How Much For Your Soul?
by Chado Sama
Summary: A god is bored. This is never a good thing, especially if you are chosen to relieve that boredom. A man and a woman that argue over a fan-fiction are selected to enter a world this god created to prove their arguments by living them! This story follows the male's point of view. Tales of Demons and Gods SI Fan-fic.
1. Chapter 1

"Shit!" Yelled a 30-something-year-old man as he slammed his door shut and walked to the road through his front yard.

"That bitch shits me to tears!" as he walked up the street to the corner store, he couldn't help but rant. He had just been in a flame war with some random keyboard warrior over a fanfiction he had been reading, it was the definition of pathetic!

"If you were transported to a world where the strong made the rules, of course, you would have a harem! Even the City Lord had two wives! The story was full of douche bags that did whatever they wanted, and if they didn't get it, they destroyed it! Might as well be King douche bag and live out all your desires! Even some countries on Earth practised polygamy! Why would you try to keep to Earths standards and be a little pansy bitch as you follow behind Nie Li?"

Talking to himself as he crossed the road this dude was all kinds of petty, to be angry over some girl's posts on fanfiction was a bit sad.

Unfortunately, the man failed to look both ways as he crossed the road and was only made aware of his mistake as he heard the almost mocking sound of a truck horn beeping.

With a flash of light, the random 30 odd-year-old dude appeared in the room with a fireplace and two comfy looking armchairs, one of which was filled with a white-haired old man that could only be described as regal. His first impression was quickly shattered as the old man opened his mouth.

"Yo! How do you feel? Truck-kun really did a number on you, lolz he even beeped just to see the look on your face!" The not so regal man then proceeded to laugh quite hard.

"Shit! What happened? Where am I? Who are you? People don't say lolz!" The newly arrived man was freaking out, and quite naturally, his mouth spat out his immediate thoughts.

"Relax guy, I'm God, and you have been summoned to undertake a great mission of utmost urgency, only you can do it! Have a seat." Said God, stroking this unknown guy's ego and gesturing at the remaining chair.

"Really? Am I really the only one who can do this?" Stammered out the random dude with a mix of hope and pride, while sitting down.

"Lolz, no I had Truck-kun kill you because I'm bored and needed the entertainment!" God laughed at the guy, as his mouth fell open and his eyes bulged in disbelief! Before he could say anything, God continued on.

"I have been reading the literary works of you mortals and must say, I have been surprised with the worlds you create. Quite the imagination even the fanfiction writers amuse me as they insert themselves into their stories to escape from reality. Truly fascinating! But that doesn't compare to the multitude of plebs commenting on them and then getting into arguments over it! And then it hit me, why don't I give these plebs a chance to prove their arguments."

God stopped speaking and stared at said plebe, giving him a chance to comprehend this subpar plot that only trash writers would use.

After a while, the random plebe's mind rebooted, and he started processing what God had said. "Sure, God killed him for the lolz (shit now I'm saying it!), but it has also been one of his biggest fantasies, to be inserted into one of his favourite stories with a cheat system... Wait, do I get a cheat?" He thought to himself, quickly voicing out his worries with frantic haste.

"If I'm to do this, do I get cheat powers? Do I get to choose the world? I want Harry Potter!" he blurted out.

"Naturally you get cheat powers, if I sent you keyboard warriors into this world, then you would die too quickly, and that would be as entertaining as watching daytime TV. No, I have already made the universe, it was the one you were arguing about!" God answered, taking him from excitement at getting powers to crushing his hopes and dreams as ruthlessly as Truck-kun did his body.

The universe in question was Tales of Gods and Demons, a world ruled by the strong. The humans were on the verge of being annihilated by Demon Beasts, but that's not all. There is the Sage-Emperor, he has insane abilities and can divine who will be a threat to him. He doesn't even need to act himself, as there is a team of Diety Demon Beasts to follow his orders. Unquestionably, a shit place to be thrown into.

The MC, Nie Li, was killed by the Sage-Emperor. He was reborn as his 13-year-old self, thanks to an overpowered book called The Temporal Demon Spirit Book. The same book the Sage-Emperor gets his powers from, as he has three of its pages.

"Curse Mad Snail, making it difficult for me! On the plus side, I know the story and will get cheat powers. Since I'm already dead, I might as well give it a try. Luckily I have no real family left to worry about, otherwise, I would be a whole lot more pissed off about the situation. Is God just allowed to kill people? Surely there have to be rules about this sort of thing, right?" Thought the guy that only now existed to amuse God.

He quietly brainstormed a few questions to clarify his position as God's plaything, hopefully wheedling out some benefits. The regal old man known as God was watching his facial expressions change with a smirk, he was highly amused.

"So... Did you just read my thoughts or do I need to voice them?"

"I could read your thoughts, but then I wouldn't be surprised by the stupid things you will say." Answered God with a shit-eating grin.

"Ok, so I have some questions if that's alright?"

"Sure, that's half the fun. All I say is the truth but if you don't ask the right question you don't get the right answer!" Replied God, thinking that this was probably the best idea he has had for ages. This idea was turning out to be a good investment!

"Cool beans, so first off, am I the only one "summoned" to the ToDaG world?"

"No."

"Can you tell me who they are and who they will be?"

"I could, but that would ruin the fun." Laughed God.

"Fun? Shit, it's defiantly that bitch from the fan-fiction comments. Miss, "I can't believe how immature everyone is", but who will she be? It must be Ye Ziyun, there is no way she would share Nie Li, and he only cares about her. But does she even romantically like Nie Li? Dude is ginger but comes with cheat powers and plot armour. Yeah, she will defiantly be aiming for him. Bitch, just wait! I will show you 'immature' and 'probably never touched a woman'!" Raged petty dude internally. After he calmed down, he continued with his questions.

"What powers can I get?"

Without even answering, God waved his hand. A blue screen appeared before him with a list of powers. At the top, was the number 10,000 and he had two options to choose from, Powers and Detrimental.

Choosing Powers, a list of stereotypical abilities and items appeared, the only problem being the cost, the good ones were more than 10,000 points. Only the Systems were from other sources, the rest of the options had to do with the Demon and God world.

1\. Appearance

2\. Talent

3\. Character / Family

4\. Equipment

5\. Demon Spirits

6\. Cultivation Techniques

7\. Systems

Checking the Detrimental tab made him curse internally. Things like being unattractive, ugly and fugly only gave 500, 1000 and 2000 respectively. But who wants to be fugly?

1\. Appearance

2\. Talent

3\. Character / Family

4\. Vices / Traits

5\. Age of Reincarnation

There was a lot of terrible things that could be sacrificed for points, but he had to remind himself that this was his new life he was deciding, not a game character! The third and fifth tabs immediately got his attention, and after checking them out, two things became clear. God wanted them to be the same age as Nie Li, and God had made a mistake. The Age of Reincarnation tab only listed one age, baby, for a modest 2,500 points. This would give him thirteen years to prepare for the day Nie Li receives his plot armour and dominates Glory city.

The characters and families to pick from in the Detrimental tab only had the Sacred Family, a commoner, and orphan listed. Orphan gave 750 points and commoner 250 points. The real points came from the Sacred Family, as a regular member gave 2,000 points and Shen Yue gave 5,000 points! This was a bit much, right? Sure, the family gets wiped out but it should be easy enough to distance himself from the family, plus he would have 13 years to do it.

With 17,500 points he went back to the Powers tab and chose the systems list. A list of bullshit systems was listed, some going for 50,000 points. If he hadn't known it before, he certainly did now, God was a massive troll. A levelling system went for 13,000, with the cheapest system being a dungeon system at 9,500 points. It would be a great system, but the Sage-Emperor would demolish it in seconds.

The system he was after was the Library of Heaven's Path at 16,000 big ones. Worth it for what it does and the benefits it will bring early on. To be able to store all books touched and then compile them into a perfect technique or skill will be just what the doctor ordered. Now for a devour skill or a mind-reading skill.

Checking through the skills and talents tab gave him two options, but none feasible with the points he had left to spend. They were Devour – 10,000, Telepathy – 6000, not too helpful. With little choice, he turned to God and prayed!

"Um, is there any way to mix or change skills? I want the Library of Heaven's Path, but I want it to be able to scan defeated enemies for knowledge." He queried.

"Looking at the two detrimental perks you have chosen, you have 17,500 points to spend. Possible, but there would have to be restrictions. First, the Library of Heaven's Path has a chance of condensing a golden page if you earn the gratitude of students as a result of impartation of knowledge, this will no longer happen. You will only be able to scan the enemy if they are unconscious and will only be able to learn books they have read; no memories are received; each scan will take an hour." Said God, answering his prayers.

"What about the golden page being used to assimilate the content of all of the books collected in the Library instantaneously? This is one of the major benefits!"

God was quick to shut him down. "Not enough points."

"Shit, then what about some extra points for killing me?"

"What do you mean? I gave you 10,000 points." God said suddenly losing his smile.

"There must be some rule about directly interfering with Earth, right? Otherwise, you would have fixed the shit parts and killed the people hating on you." He reasoned.

"As a god, I can destroy anything I create!" Replied God, leaning forward in his chair intimidatingly.

"So, you created Earth or me?"

"... No."

"Benefits!" Shouted the happy plebe, finally being the one wearing the shit eating grin.

"Tch." God clicked his tongue as he spat out his next words. "What do you want?"

Like a kid in a candy store, the dude's eyes lit up. Knowing he couldn't piss the God now in charge of his fate off too much, he would have to keep his demands reasonable.

"What did the bitch pick?"

Looking slightly miffed God responded with a wave of his hand.

Ye Ziyun – 2000

The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal Pendant / System – 10,000

Interspatial Ring (500sqm) – 500

Bishoujo – 1500

Boobs – 250

Dat Ass! – 250

"There seems to be an error, here God. The total is 14,500 points."

God turned his head not meeting his eye, "She was very persuasive."

"Your joking, she got points for putting out?" Asked the male plebe in disbelief.

"Tch, you should know that people are not born equal. She was a hot 22-year-old, while you're a scruffy 33-year-old man! Besides, I did say you had to ask the right questions, and she asked how she could earn some points!" God laughed with his shit eating grin back in place.

"What questions did the hypocrite ask?" Not appreciating the gender bias, scruffy dude needed to know what he was up against.

"If she was able to go back to Earth; how to earn points; when she will appear in the timeline and what happens if she dies in ToDaG world."

"And the answers?"

"Yes, as a reward for entertaining me; you know the second answer; she will take over Ye Ziyun's body the same time as Nie Li 'awakens'; depends on how much you entertain me. If you do a good job, a new life of your choice back on Earth with memories intact. If you bore me, you will be born in Africa and not in a good part!" Replied god in an offhand manner.

Feeling a bit relieved for his future, he vowed to at least moderately entertain his new God. With newfound determination, he picked out his choices on the panel, making sure to buff his appearance.

Bishonen – 1500

The "D" – 250

Abs of Steel – 250

Indigo Soul Realm – 1500

Interspatial Ring (500sqm) – 500

Neutral Soul Attribute – 300

"I also want the ability to assimilate the content of all of the books collected in the Library of Heaven's Path instantaneously, with the Tales of Demons and Gods light novel and manhua added to the library. The ability to pillage soul-bound items from defeated enemies. And lastly, for you to not destroy me, or whichever world I'm in, once you have gotten bored of entertaining yourself at my expense. Basically, not sabotage me intentionally." The slightly annoyed summoned dude requested, trying to reign in demands so as not to anger the being that can destroy worlds.

"Hmm doable, but again with a few restrictions. You will only assimilate the content of all of the books collected once every realm upgraded, i.e. bronze, silver, gold. Really, you want the book in your library? You already know the plot elements and won't be able to find any flaws in it, well I suppose it's fine. Pillaging soul-bound items will be easy but will require the target to be unconscious, taking an hour for the process to succeed. Don't worry I won't sabotage you, you're proving to be a good choice for entertainment!"

"So you are happy with your choices and ready to accept the deal?" Said God, holding out his hand, back to his jovial self.

"Yep, deal!" replied the poor schmuck who thought he bested a god, shaking God's offered hand.

With a flash of light, the man was off to start his new life.

"Not bad, he managed to gain a few extra benefits but didn't take it too far. He didn't force the fact that technically I'm not allowed to pillage the communal mortals, at most, it would only be a light punishment, but still embarrassing to be called before the high gods. Although the idiot forgot he was still locked in to reincarnated as Shen Yue as a baby. Since he was reasonable, I won't make him spend 6 months as a fetus!" Laughed the god as he clicked his fingers causing screens to appear, displaying his newly created world.

"Let the fun begin!"


	2. Chapter 2

Shen Yue suddenly jolted awake. Disorientated, he looked around at his surroundings. Well, he tried to; he could barely move.

"Shit, now I know why I received so many points for starting as a baby, this is going to suck!" Grumbled She Yue to himself, as that was who he was now; the unknown, scruffy 33-year-old plebe had ceased to be. Before he could do more than wiggle, a blue screen popped up in front of his face.

[ Congratulations! You have agreed to be reincarnated into the Tales of Demons and Gods world, created by Alastor your new God! As per the agreement you made when renouncing your previous faith and/or allegiance, you have been given the following perks and detriments.

-Bishonen – A young man whose beauty (and sexual appeal) transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation.

-The "D" – For those that lack skill, this size and shape are guaranteed to meet your partner's needs.

-Abs of Steel – Your abdominal muscles are chiselled by gods.

-Indigo Soul Realm – The best soul realm class that determines training potential.

-Interspatial Ring (500sqm) – Soul-Bound ring able to change shape and camouflage.

(To receive, pray to God.)

-Neutral Soul Attribute – Attribute-less soul realm.

-Library of Heaven's Path – This system compiles a book on an ongoing process by observing them such as an activated formation, pill forging process or a cultivator as long as they execute a battle technique. It can also be used on artifacts, books, and non-living objects through direct touch. The compiled book would contain information about the cultivator's background, abilities, and flaws in his cultivation. Similarly, the book would include information concerning the ongoing process or the artifact.

This ability can be activated regardless of the presence of seals on the book or item.

The Library can also consolidate all similar texts into a single flawless and comprehensive tome, incorporating only the best parts. The reading speed in the Library is enhanced by more than a hundredfold as compared to the outside world.

*Added feature - Able to scan a target if they are unconscious. Each scan will take an hour, but will only be able to learn books they have read. No memories can be copied. Gained the ability to assimilate the content of all books collected in the Library instantly when advancing a higher realm in cultivation. Tales of Demons and Gods light novel and manhua added to the library.

-Pillage – The Ability to sever soul-bound items from the owner. The process takes one hour.

-Shen Yue – A member of the Sacred family, he was a fellow student in the fighter apprentice class with Nie Li. His aunt Shen Xiu was the teacher for the course, selected to watch over him and his betrothed, Ye Ziyun.

-Reincarnation Age (baby) – Inserted into the timeline as a baby.

*Added feature – Due to amusing your God, Alastor, you will not start as a 3-month-old fetus.

You are not permitted to kill the opposition, disclose information about future events or information concerning your mission to amuse your new God! All attempts will be physically impossible thanks to the restrictions placed on you when you agreed to serve your God, Alastor. Continue to amuse Him for better endgame reward. ]

"Holly shit balls! I nearly had to spend six months as a fetus! That would have incited all kinds of mental problems. Thankfully I didn't piss him off, it will be bad enough being a baby let alone a fetus. Looks like there was more involved with making that deal, but as the only God to actually offer me something, I guess I don't mind working for him. I did get a pretty sweet deal. Hmm, all the perks seem to be in order, but God damn it, I should have changed my character! Not a total loss, the Sacred Family is in a position to collect books from a lot of sources. Since I can't do squat until I can walk, I will just have to spend my time plotting and revising the storyline. I won't require my ring until I gain more freedom so I will summon it when I need it." Were his thoughts as he drifted off to sleep.

Six years later and Shen Yue was finished trying to not attract too much attention to himself. His main goal was to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Although that will change once his soul real was tested at eight. He didn't want to attract his father's attention, but he was going crazy!

During these frustrating years, Shen Yue had recognised he had overlooked a few things when planning his future.

-Language – It was only thanks to his library that he could read, write and speak the language.

-Being a baby sucked the balls – Lying in your own shit and piss was only tolerable when you were drunk and not able to notice it. As a baby unable to move it was a constant cycle of tit sucking and shitting his nappy.

-Toddlers have no rights – No one cares if you want to go to the library, alchemy room or learn inscriptions. You are too young and thus treated like the child you are. After the first beating from Shen Hong, his loving dad, Shen Yue understood not to push the boundaries. A man willing to destroy the last known human City because he was not the City Lord, was not a man you want to fuck with.

-Shen Fei was a little bitch – Although he never actually messed with Shen Yue, he was a spoilt little shit craving daddy's affection. Not that he could really blame the poor bugger as he was born into a psychopathic family; but he wanted nothing to do with Shen Yue. He was four years older than Shen Yue and was on track to being the loser portrayed in the book. He had planned to use him to get his books, but that didn't work out at all.

-Hired help – Shen Yue thought he could get minions early on, but it turns out that they take orders from the father, not the child. Fear of Shen Hong was far greater than the pitiful pleading of a cute little shit factory.

-A library is a sacred place – Being from Earth where the majority of information was free and easily accessible, Shen Yue had forgotten that here, knowledge was power and heavily restricted. All scrolls and books were handwritten and treated with the utmost care, to let a child in there, even one of the heirs was unthinkable.

-Mother, where art thou? – "Was I born from a test tube?" Since waking in his crib, Shen Yue has yet to meet her. Shen Hong was his father with grey hair, Shen Xiu and Fei were his aunt and brother with red hair, and Shen Yue had blue/black hair. Did he share a mother with Shen Fei? No one would tell him who or where his mother was. Shen Yue could not work it out, it was a complete mystery.

-Shen Hong – Supreme leader of the Sacred Family. Other than laying down the law, Shen Yue rarely saw him. Shen Family were definitely not the Brady Bunch. Shen Hong instructed the maids and the butler assigned to Shen Yue to make sure he was raised as a proper little noble but was given no access to the places he wanted to go. Honestly, Shen Hong scared the crap out of him, so he was sure not to act up.

Throughout these trying years the only source of help was his crazy, but stupidly cute, aunt Shen Xiu. She was seven years older than Shen Yue and babied him like crazy, always pinching his cheeks. He had a sneaking suspicion that his appearance perks had come through for the win. It was through her that he got any books other than children books, but they still wouldn't help him on his path to domination. It was still Shen Hong first, cute nephew second. It was maddening, was Shen Hong purposely fucking with him?

The only place he learned anything of substance was the training ground. When he was four, he begged his aunt to let him watch the guards train. Shen Yue would then casually let his cheat library add all the skills displayed before him, showing what not to do by the flaws listed. Although it wasn't much, it was still a win for him.

After four years of being bored to death, he understood a little of his new Gods pain. In his past life, he despised exercise, but there was nothing else to do that was considered appropriate for a child. Shen Yue ended up doing light exercise to get a head start on building up his body. With help from his perks, it was easy to tone his young body.

After all this time, it was hard for him not to train his soul force. The common cultivation methods he got from the guards, could have been used but it would harm his foundation to practise multiple techniques.

He was literally bored to tears and wanted nothing more than to boost his power. But he had to wait for the ultimate cultivation technique, Nie Li's personal technique.

The reason being that if one succeeds in practising it, they would be able to learn skills from all the attributes. They would also be able to contract seven different demon spirits, one for all attributes. All other methods can only have one demon spirit. A quick rise in power now was not a good tradeoff for a solid foundation in an ultimate technique later.

Today was his sixth birthday, and he had finally begged his way into the family library. He was told by his father that if he so much creases a page, he would be banned for life. As he stepped into the place he had been denied since birth, he couldn't help but be awed by the atmosphere.

Although not as big as one from Earth, the rows of ancient books and scrolls gave one the feeling wisdom and power. It was an uncanny feeling, giving him goosebumps.

Getting down to business, he could care less for acting under the radar. He would have to show a bit of talent to be able to gain access to more sources of books. He would need to create a strong power base to be able to contend with Nie Li's plot armour.

Under the watchful eye of the elder in charge of the library, he started from one end of the library and made his way to the other, scanning every book or scroll available. It was only 8 hours later that he was dragged out for dinner and sent to bed, God he hated being a child. Still, today had been glorious, he had managed to scan a tenth of the library and couldn't wait to get back to it. According to the elder, there was a little over ten thousand books and scrolls.

Nine days later and he only had the restricted library left to scan, and that was not likely to happen. All the cultivation techniques, pill recipes and inscription books in the public section of the family library were devoured. His next destination was the alchemy courtyard of the Sacred Family.

Most pills were made by the Alchemy Association, a location where the alchemists of Glory City gather to compare the results of their research. If the subject is found to be credible, it will be compiled into a book, which is then distributed to every known alchemist. It was the undisputable alchemy nerve centre.

Most of the ancient knowledge of alchemy has been lost so this is necessary to try to advance the craft. Of course, the influential Families would not disclose all their secrets and would have a private alchemy courtyard.

He already had his aunt bargain a place to watch the next time the elder made some pills for the Family. She really was great, he would definitely be adding her to his inner circle. Letting her die with the Family would be a waste.

Three hours later and it was safe to say that he will be putting the Alchemy Association out of business. The elder assured him that he was a master of the craft and would not lose out if he competed with an association member.

The library had pretty much shat all over his skills and technique, listing multiple flaws and recommending alternative herbs that when cross-referenced with the books on herbs he had scanned into the library, were cheaper and more accessible. Things were finally starting to look up!

But his plans couldn't start until he had learned inscriptions. It was all well and good being having an army, Family or organisation behind you, but if you could not completely trust that they wouldn't stab you in the back, they were more trouble than the benefits they bring.

There will always be someone, not content serving under you and looking for a chance to take your place. It had happened countless times all through the ages on Earth. In some cases, entire nations would crumble through the act of betrayal by those trusted.

He wouldn't even think about a harem until he had the inscription he wanted, after all, 'heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned'. Nie Li might be protected by plot armour and able to keep the love of women with powers the level of natural disasters, but Shen Yue only had his appearance perks, his romance skills were pretty terrible. The inscription he wanted was used by Shen Hong for his Dark Guild minions, Soul Shackles.

The only problem was Shen Yue couldn't just waltz up to him and ask for it, or could he? Shen Yue was pretty sure he wouldn't be killed, but would Shen Hong use Soul Shackles on him? That was a terrifying thought. Shen Yue would have to talk to him eventually, even if it is just for permission to leave the family compound.

The next day after a big breakfast to bolster his courage, Shen Yue made his way to the Sacred Family patriarch's courtyard. After getting the guard to ask for an audience, he sat down to wait. Twenty minutes later the guard sent him in, God his dad was a dick. With a healthy amount of trepidation, he knocked on his father's door and entered when told.

"Greetings lord father." Shen Yue saluted, thankful his butler had drilled him in etiquette training.

"Shen Yue, why have you come?" The seemingly old evil-looking man asked. He sat in what could only be described as a throne, narrowed beady eyes staring at him as if trying to answer his own question. Or kill him, Shen Yue was never too sure with this psycho. Shen Hong had long grey hair pulled up into a man bun, with a long grey beard and moustache. With his high collared robe, he looked every inch the typical Chinese cultivator.

"I have come for permission to visit the Alchemy Institute and the Holy Orchid Institute. I wish to visit their repository of knowledge and broaden my horizons." Said Shen Yue trying to sound intelligent. Hopefully, he didn't look or sound how he felt, about to piss his pants. This was going to be delicate, how much of his ability should he reveal?

"Oh, you have finished with the Family library? I was told you merely flicked through the books without even reading a single one!" Shen Hong said with a calm tone of voice, somehow still able to express his disfavour.

"Lord father, although it seems that way, I have in fact read them, only remembering the relevant parts and discarding the rest. This way my mind will not be crowded with useless information. Feel free to name a book father, I will tell you if I remembered anything interesting from it." Spouted Shen Yue, laying it on thick. He had to remember to try and act like an intelligent six-year-old and fail to answer some questions, too much talent will bring too much restriction.

By the look Shen Hong was giving him, it was clear he didn't believe him. After his father naming ten random books and Shen Yue throwing out a few lines for four of them, Shen Hong's look had changed to a calculating one. After what seemed an hour of his father's soul-piercing gaze, Shen Hong gave his approval.

"It will take a few days to arrange and a quite a few demon spirit coins, but I see no problem with it. From now on you will have two gold ranked bodyguards with you at all times. You will have to train this ability of yours, only remembering a few lines from each book is a waste of talent."

Said Shen Hong with the closest thing to a smile Shen Yue had ever seen. It scared the shit out of him wondering what he was planning. But since he had revealed himself, he might as well go all out.

"Father, can I enter the restricted section to read the books?"

The calculating look was back. "Why?" Shen Hong queried.

"Why not? I want to read all the books I can get! Is there a reason I can't read them?" Said Shen Yue with as much childish innocence as he could muster. When in doubt, play the child card!

"Hmm you are too young to enter that area, if you prove yourself in the next couple of years, then I may consider it." Shen Hong eventually said in a mild voice. He clearly had no intention of letting Shen Yue in there until he was a lot older, he was just dangling an incentive in front of a child to make him work harder. Playing the part of the said innocent child, he could only follow the script.

"Yes, lord father, I will do my best!"


	3. Chapter 3

A week later, Shen Yue was on his way to the Alchemy Association. After negotiating (bribing), a couple of the Associations Masters agreed to let Shen Yue read all books at master level and below without being a member. It must have cost his father favour or two.

The entrance to the Alchemy Association was unquestionably awe-inspiring. With a long set of steps between two towers and statues bordering the path, it was a pleasant trek to the top. His two new guards quickly sorted things out with the Masters and Shen Yue was ushered into their library.

Seeing the massive number of books, easily twice the size of the family library, he got straight to work. With his bodyguards hovering and looking menacing, no one was brave enough to indulge their curiosity and talk to him.

Over the next three weeks, Shen Yue received many stares, ranging from curious to sneering contempt. It didn't bother him in the slightest as he scanned every book and scroll he could get his hands on. The only person that interested Shen Yue was a stunning dark-haired beauty. She was always surrounded by a couple of guys, either apprentices or masters, this 18-year-old stunner drew them all. She was, of course, a young Yang Xin, still only an apprentice.

Other than a few looks, she did not pay Shen Yue much attention, and he was not ready to meet her. Shen Yue was planning to start an organisation to rival the Alchemy Association and wanted her to lead it, but he still needed the Soul Shackle inscription. She was the future Director of the Association, so she certainly had the skills and determination. With all books scanned, there was no need for him to be here any longer. Onto the Holy Orchid Institute!

The school was a welcome surprise. Shen Yue wasn't expecting much, as all books were made public for students to read. According to the librarian, the number of books in the library easily numbers a hundred thousand, with ninety percent of them left behind from the ancient times.

There were countless ancient texts in the library that had still not been translated. The unknown script of different dynasties forgotten with time.

Another language offered no challenge to the Library of Heaven's Path.

As long as it had enough material, it could compile a manual on the unknown language, making learning it simple. This was how Shen Yue learned to speak the dialect of Glory City.

It turned out that Shen Hong had already planned ahead after learning that Shen Yue could read around one thousand books in eight hours. Since Shen Hong already knew the size of the school's library, he judged it would take a minimum of one hundred days, so he just paid a year's tuition after receiving permission from the Vice Principle Ye Sheng. This was only for access to the library as they agreed he was still too young to attend any classes.

This suited Shen Yue perfectly as he had no desire to waste his time in a classroom. After learning to deal with extreme boredom for the first six years of his life, scanning one hundred thousand books didn't faze him. Especially when the knowledge he gained would give his library a solid foundation to compile perfect books. For the next hundred or so days Shen Yue was like a machine, only stopping for lunch when his little aunt forced him.

In fact, in the three and a half months Shen Yue attended Holy Orchid Institute, he had become quite close to his cute little aunt. Travelling to and from school, plus lunch every day, he ended up nearly enjoying the thirteen-year old's chatter. It also became clear she didn't really have any friends.

The Sacred Family doctrine pumped out snobby, entitled children that looked down on others, which made it hard to make friends. He didn't help her with her training as that would expose his skills. Shen Xiu would surely reveal him to Shen Hong in her eagerness to show off, she was very prideful.

"Mmmwwwahahahahahaha! The world will be mine!" Shen Yue's inner evil dictator had escaped in his excitement.

He had finally finished scanning the school's library, and he was feeling on top of the world. It was a treasure trove of information. One hundred thousand books and probably forty thousand had not even been translated.

Like the Book of Divine Lightning Fire that Nie Li shames Shen Xue with, only the first volume was ever translated. The seventh volume was the one that the Sacred family founder ripped off. All the other volumes held inscriptions just as valuable, and this was merely one series of books! Thousands of techniques, pill formulas, inscriptions, battle arrays and enchanting patterns just there for the taking!

He even found some special techniques.

-Secret Soul – Is to focus on a person's control of strength and soul force.

-Berserker's Heart – This technique is usually used as a last resort. It allows the user to produce a surge in their abilities. However, it has many drawbacks. The duration is extremely short, they will become exhausted afterwards, and they can lose their rationality.

-Scarlet Body Refining – A technique that is mostly used by fighters to temperately raise their combat abilities.

-Soul Refining – One of the most effective techniques used for interrogation after pulling out a person's soul. With it out, the soul won't have consciousness so it will always answer questions truthfully.

-Soul Separating – Able to partially release the soul from the body. Can be used to communicate mentally.

These special techniques had multiple uses, and that was before correcting the flaws. Because Shen Yue didn't have enough of the same type of special techniques to compile a book without flaws, he could only do things the old fashion way.

After the flaws where listed, Shen Yue would re-write the technique fixing the flaws as he went. After a few re-writes, the skill would be as complete as he could manage, without additional references. Although he could never eliminate all flaws, as the library would do when it compiled multiple books, it vastly improved the techniques.

This was why he chose the Library of Heaven's Path, in a world where most knowledge was lost or in a forgotten language, his system would just use its bullshit skills to pop out technique after technique! He couldn't understand the choices his female counterpart made.

Ye Ziyun was already supposed to be beautiful so why waste points? The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal Pendant / System from the Ancient Strengthening Technique novel was pretty cool but made redundant by the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting. He would still pillage it though as he still held an unhealthy grudge from her comments on his maturity and sexual conquests.

He was hoping for some enslaving techniques or inscriptions but was sadly disappointed. He did, however, get a few about the soul. Hopefully, it will be able to enhance the Soul Shackles considerably. Being able to pull out and inscribe a slave inscription directly on their soul would be terrifying.

Shen Yue spent the next week relaxing and consolidating his looted knowledge. He had never been as happy in this life as he was now. After 6 years of torture, his goal was in sight! With the list of skills and techniques he had now, he could dominate the trade industry in Glory City. All he needed was his betrayal countermeasure. He was going to have to try and bargain his way into the restricted area of the Sacred Family library.

Waiting outside for his father's permission to enter his courtyard, he was once again reminded of how much of a douche Shen Hong was. It had already been at least half an hour. While waiting, he fantasised over ways to kill him and take over the family, it was another option than just starting out on his own. Finally getting the nod from one of the countless nondescript guards inhabiting the family compound, he made his way in.

"Greetings lord father." He said giving a salute.

"Oh, Shen Yue, how has the Holy Orchid Institute's archive?" Asked Shen Hong as if he was surprised at seeing Shen Yue. Did he forget he had just made him wait thirty minutes at the door? Dick.

"It was enlightening, so much to learn. During my time reading at the Holy Orchid Institute, I came across something that could be damaging to the family's reputation. Would this achievement be worthy of entry into our Families restricted library?" Shen Yue eagerly asked.

Since Shen Hong wanted to be a dick, then he would repay him in kind. Although Shen Hong was a psychopath, he wouldn't kill him. Shen Yue wasn't as scared of him now he had a way of surviving without the support of the Sacred Family.

"Oh, and what would that be?" With his eyes narrowing into a death stare, Shen Hong gave his full attention to Shen Yue, sitting up straight on his throne.

Shen Yue just calmly met his gaze and waited. On one hand, his father scared the shit out of him, but on the other, he no longer needed Shen Hong. He was sure he would not be killed because if the news got out to the other families, Shen Hong's reputation would be shot. After ten minutes Shen Hong lost his calm.

"Speak!"

"Oh, I'm sorry lord father I thought you liked to take your time in your decisions. After all, it took you thirty minutes to decide if you should see me or not." Replied Shen Yue in an offhand manner, feeling very satisfied at venting some of the frustration he had accumulated over the years at Shen Hong.

"Boy, if you do not tell me right now your punishment will not be light!"

"The information I found could be devastating if not handled correctly, I want access to all the Family's forbidden books! It's not like there is a reason to prohibit me from entering, I am after all your son and direct descendant! Unless we have no relation?" Shen Yue's calm face morphing into one of anger. All previous thoughts about not pissing of Shen Hong thrown out the window. Being so close to his goal had weakened his resolve to be patient, six years was a long time to wait.

"Petulant child, you dare to make demands of me?" with a wave of his hand, Shen Yue was blasted off his feet. Landing on the floor three metres away, Shen Yue could not help but cry out in pain.

"You will tell me now!" Shen Hong demanded.

Standing back up, Shen Yue levelled a glare at the ancient looking douche, he really didn't age well. Shen Yue decided to go all out, the worst Shen Hong could do was beat him, if he went too far, he would lose all face.

"It seems you don't see me like family. Hope you are proud of that trash Shen Fei." The beating continued for a while after that. Shen Yue didn't give a shit about reputation, he was only six years old! He screamed as loud as he could, allowing the guards to know what was transpiring inside the room. When Shen Hong looked like he was about to stop, he whispered 'trash' just loud enough for Shen Hong to hear but not the guards outside the door.

Shen Yue woke up in pain. It seems he had lost conciseness and had been carried back to his room. He would smile if it didn't hurt so much, just breathing hurt. Seeing him wake, his maids rushed over.

"Young master, how are you feeling?" Asked Maid number one, he never bothered remembering their names when it was clear they were loyal to Shen Hong first.

"Like I was beaten to death." The Maids just looked at him, what could they do?

"Where is the doctor?" Continued Shen Yue, speaking through the pain.

"He has already been young master; he has done all he can." Answered Maid number two.

Shen Yue was in too much pain to drag answers out of these retards, probably not his best idea antagonising Shen Hong. Without anything he could do, he closed his eyes and tried his best to fall back into blissful unconsciousness. He had to wait for his aunt to continue the next step of his backup plan.


	4. Chapter 4

"Shen Yue! Shen Yue!"

Waking from the desperate call of his little aunt, Shen Yue grimaced at the pain. Seeing the teary-eyed, red-haired Shen Xiu, it was time to try and rope her to his side. He would have to dial his cute boy genius act to the max.

"Aunt, it hurts." He whispered out.

"Where is the doctor?" Shen Xiu directed her question to Maid number two.

"He has already been. He said he did all he can." She replied quickly seeing anger showing through the worry on Shen Xiu's face.

"Aunt, they have done nothing to help me, I haven't seen a doctor. They won't give me anything for the pain." Shen Yue sobbed out. He did not have to try hard for tears, he was quite badly hurt. No fucks were given as he threw Maid number one and two under the bus.

"I think they are trying to kill me! I want to leave aunt." He whispered with a fearful face. He had once read somewhere that redheads had a fiery personality, for Shen Xiu that seemed to be the case.

Coming home from school only to hear whispers of Shen Yue's guards carrying his broken body to his courtyard made her anxious. Rushing to his Courtyard and seeing her adorable little nephew covered in bandages and traces of blood put her straight into panic mode. Hearing his pained whispers and seeing tears on a face she had only ever seen smiling, turned her hysterical.

Before the maid could even utter a rebuttal, she was bitch slapped and crumpled to the ground. Maid number one seeing this tried to plead innocence but quickly joined her counterpart on the floor after a fist to the face. Seems Shen Xiu was at least at bronze 2nd rank.

"Aunt, can you take me to a doctor in the city?" Sobbed Shen Yue, impressed with the aura coming off his little aunt. He couldn't wait to start cultivating himself.

"Don't cry little Yue, I will get the family doctor quickly." Shen Xiu was about to run from the room when she was stopped by Shen Yue shout.

"No! I think they are trying to kill or cripple me. I'm the patriarch's son, yet here I lie with barely any treatment! Aunt, we need a neutral doctor. I can't ruin my future for some Family scheme!" He gasped out.

After his initial shout, every word he spoke induced pain. There was no need to pretend to cry, the tears were flowing freely. His ribs must be broken, Shen Hong was brutal!

Not being in the right frame of mind to poke any holes in his flimsy excuse, he was quickly carried none too gently like a new bride. Rushing out of the courtyard, she made a beeline for the compound gates, not even pausing when Shen Yue's Guards called out for her to stop.

The Gold rank guards had no clue how to deal with this situation, although they could stop her as they were gold rank, to stop Shen Xiu would invite her wrath (they had seen what happened to the maids) and further hurt Shen Yue. They could only follow along.

Thirty painful minutes of being carried and Shen Yue was in one of Glory city's most renowned doctors, with Shen Xiu demanding he is treated. Seeing Sacred Family members injured and begging for assistance the doctor wasted no time and ushered them into his treatment room.

Two hours later, bones were set, elixirs taken and wounds bandaged.

Brocken arm.

Brocken leg.

3 broken ribs.

Broken nose.

Various grazes from sliding across the floor.

A shit ton of bruising, though none internally.

Shen Yue was stupefied at the list of injuries, but the doctor and Shen Xiu seemed relieved! His Earth mentality had got him again. On Earth, these injuries would have seen him out of commission for a minimum of five months, here after setting and splinting his bones, a few elixirs and he will be up and fighting in two weeks! Even his nose would be back to its perfect condition!

"Thank you, the pain is much less. What level of treatment had I received before I arrived here? I'm afraid I was mostly unconscious." Said Shen Yue gratefully. He felt much better and had only the occasional twinge of pain when breathing unlike the knives stabbing his soul before.

"Treatment? Only your wounds were bandaged, I thought you came straight here." Replied the confused doctor.

Unafraid to spread rumours and trash his family's reputation, he hammed the shit out of his reply. "I was told that my Sacred Family's best doctor had done all he could for me and it was just a matter of time until I healed. It seems his skills are overrated; my apologies doctor I never got your name."

"I'm from the Lu family young master, Lu Wei. There was no way your family doctor missed those injuries; he didn't even reset your nose!" The now identified Lu Wei said in disbelief.

Shen Yue was unsure why the Family doctor didn't heal him, but it was definitely on Shen Hong's order. The doctor lacked the courage required to maltreat a Sacred Family direct descendant.

"Perhaps Shen Hong planned to use the pain as an incentive for the information I have?" Thought Shen Yue. It didn't matter, he would use this opportunity to leave the Family. There would be other ways to get a slave technique.

"I told you they are trying to cripple me! It's too dangerous to return to the family now." Shen Yue told his aunt with his best serious face. He then turned to the two gold rank guards. "You two are dismissed."

"I'm afraid that Patriarch has ordered us to stay by your side no matter what young master."

Thanking them internally for that perfect set up, Shen Yue made sure everyone heard his next words clearly. "It was the Patriarch that crippled me while you stood by and did nothing! Then you watched as that quack doctor tried to ruin my foundation! I will not have you traitors stand behind me ready to finish what they started, leave!"

Lu Wei, Shen Xiu, the nurse and even a few of the doctor's maids were looking at the pair of guards oddly. The gold rank guards were at a loss of what to do, but hearing Shen Yue next words, made them bolt out the door.

"Shen Xiu, if they refuse to leave, go to the city lord's mansion and report that there are two gold rank Dark Guild members trying to kidnap me."

Even if the call for the City guard were unfounded, the guards would still have to check it out. It would invite ridicule onto their Lord if they refused to investigate any claims relating to the City's worst enemy.

Finally, free from his constant shadows, he was now able to plot his next move. Shen Yue thanked the doctor, telling him to bill the shit out of the Sacred Family as refusing to pay for treatment of a direct descendant, would shame them. He then managed to persuade his aunt to book him a room in an inn, located in a poverty-stricken part of the City.

"Aunt, I'm not going back to the compound, Shen Hong obviously wishes me harm."

Shen Xiu had no idea what was going on. On one side was her brother and on the other her six-year-old nephew! Surely there couldn't be any sinister plots. But the evidence was right in front of her. Her brother had crippled his own son and then not healed his wounds. Although not fatal, if not treated they would have been detrimental to his cultivation. Becoming a demon spiritualist puts a massive strain on the body hence why children generally wait until thirteen to start.

"Little Yue, there must be some misunderstanding. I will get to the bottom of this!" Shen Xiu announced while tapping her chest as if to say leave it to her.

"Be careful aunt, if Shen Hong can do this to me, he could do worse to you. Maybe he sees me as a threat to his position with my ability to read so many books!" Shen Yue was quite shameless, throwing out such a bullshit reason. After leaving a pile of demon spirit coins and a promise to be back as soon as she could, she was off.

"God please grant me my ring." Prayed Shen Yue fervently. With a flash of light, a smiley face ring appeared on his right-hand ring finger. After a drop of blood and some mild glowing action, he now had a massive storage ring.

Mentally setting his new smiley face ring to camouflage mode, he absorbed the pile of coins. Since Shen Hong had no intention of letting him in the restricted library, then he could only find another way. Since he had no more use for Sacred Family, then it was time to make sure damaging rumours spread throughout the City.

Hobbling down to the inn's common room on the crutches Lu Wei gave him, he took a seat in the middle of the room. Ordering whatever today's special was when the quite pretty waitress came over, he then listened to the chatter around him. The inn he talked his sister into staying at, was one meant for commoners and the patrons reflected that. It was practically unheard of for a noble to be there. With his expensive clothes and heavily bruised handsome face, he was quite the curiosity for them.

When the serving wench returned with his food and noticed a six-year-old Noble still by himself, she tried to ingratiate herself with him. If she managed to become his maid, it would be a significant step up in her station in life. Asking why he was all alone, the maid did her best to engage Shen Yue in conversation.

This was what he was waiting for, a chance to tell his story. He then explained his tragic tale loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. If you were to ask what commoners loved to talk about most then it would be gossip about nobles, especially one of the major three families. And this was a juicy story. Shen Yue made sure to pour it on thick, painting Shen Hong as a power-hungry tyrant.

Soon everyone in the City would know of Shen Yue. His amazing ability to remember a third of the countless books he read and the penalty for not memorising more. When Shen Hong learned he didn't completely remember all of the books he read, he was blamed for wasting money and for not trying hard enough. The evil patriarch then thought that if he crippled Shen Yue, then he would concentrate fully on his talent and be of further use to the Family.

A complete load of bullshit, but with enough people saying it, the whole City would believe it as truth. He even gave out Lu Wei's name as the man who rekindled his dream to cultivate! Honestly, he should have turned the story into a book to profit from it. The waitress lapped it up and even when he told her he would be leaving the Sacred Family for fear of his life, she wanted to serve him anyway. She quite rightly knew that with his ability to read and remember countless books he would be a gold mine.

Two hours later a group of Sacred Family guards stormed the inn looking for Shen Yue only to find no trace of him and a crowd of angry patrons throwing shit at them. Knowing that Shen Xiu would not last long when in front of her brother, he had shouted a few rounds to promote his reputation and then slipped away with Su Mei, the serving wench. He was currently in her family home being mothered to death but enjoying it. Su Mei was his first follower and for some reason that brought a sense of happiness and sense of achievement with it.

A week later and the City was all astir with gossip of the 'Runaway Prince'. The story of the adorable, talented little six-year-old, running from the power-hungry evil patriarch had Shen Yue in tears from laughing so hard. The original storyline was a bit warped, so much for staying low profile! But he was happy with the result. Even the Nobles were talking about it, Shen Hong must really want to kill him now.

Shen Yue's next move was to obtain the protection of the second most influential Family in Glory City. He was currently waiting outside the grand hall of the Divine Family after having Su Mei arrange a meeting with Chen Zhenlong, the current patriarch.

Getting the nod to enter from the guard, Shen Yue walked in to find a tall man with short blonde hair sitting on an expensive looking throne. With five chairs each side of the throne, seating what could only be the elders of the Family.

"Greetings Patriarch Chen, Elders." Said Shen Yue saluting them.

"What brings the 'Runaway Prince' to the Divine Family?" asked Chen Zhenlong with a half-smile.

"Business" He replied succinctly.

"Oh, what business does the little genius bring?" Said the patriarch, looking slightly interested.

"Tripling your profit from the Holy Dark Grass. Of course, I will want a third so only doubling your earnings. Shen Yue said with a cheeky grin. He now had the Divine family's full attention.

Holy Dark Grass is a herb that is solely owned by the Divine Family and is the main reason that they are one of the wealthiest families in Glory City. It has the effect of strengthening one's soul force based on the age of the grass, the older it is, the stronger it becomes.

A single 5-year Holy Dark Grass is worth 50 thousand demon spirit coins, as for 10-year and 20-year Holy Dark Grasses, they are several or even dozen times more expensive. A typical commoner family's annual income was between two and three thousand demon coins.

Suddenly Chen Zhenlong laughed. "Now I know why that old dog Shen Hong crippled you! You did the same thing to him didn't you?"

Being unprepared by this sudden question, Shen Yue was unable to keep a straight face. He ended up blushing slightly and looking a bit guilty. With his bishonen perk, he was rather adorable. Chen Zhenlong had been portrayed as a serious character in the novel, and this behaviour caught him off guard.

"That's not what the city says!" he rebuffed.

Laughing even harder, the second most powerful man in the Glory City was thoroughly amused.

"True enough, I bet Shen Hong is kicking himself for not agreeing. If I may ask what did you offer him and what did you ask for?" Intrigued by this precocious little six-year-old, he couldn't help but ask, even if it was slightly inappropriate.

"Sure, I will even sell it to you if you want. I had found something that could seriously damage the Sacred Family's reputation. I wanted to access the restricted library as a reward. He chose to beat the shit out of me and have the doctors not treat me. I decided if Shen Hong was the Sacred Family, I didn't want to be a part of it. I will bet you one hundred million demon coins that during Shen Hong's rein, the Sacred Family will be destroyed." he said in an offhand manner.

The entire hall was silent as everyone stared at this little devil, who had just cursed his Family to extinction without batting an eye.

"That's why I came to you. I have a pill formula that can make three pills to each stalk of Holy Dark Grass with the same efficacy as consuming the stalk. One-third of the profit of each pill sold would be mine. Until I can hire some people of my own, I would also need protection. What do you think?"

Greed flashed through the eyes of everybody present and the designated evil elder (that every Family seems to have), was quick to voice out an alternative to his proposal.

"What's to stop us from just taking the formula?"

"Honestly, not much. I had heard only good things about the Divine Family and hoped they would deal with me fairly even if I am only six and a half. Oh, and the fact that I had my maid spread around that today I was coming to deal with the Divine Family. I wonder if there is going to be another villain in the Runaway Prince saga?" Shen Yue said sardonically.

Chen Zhenlong was staring at Shen Yue thoughtfully, although he was a weak little six-year-old now, his future would be limitless! Just this deal alone was enough to bring about a fourth major family with the wealth the child would make! The only downside was angering Shen Hong. But they were already political enemies, so it was a moot point.

"I could easily torture the pill formula out of him, but it would be impossible to keep it quiet, the backlash would not be worth it. Much better to just cooperate and gain a positive relationship with the little devil. When he grows up, he will be a valuable ally to the Family. If only I had a daughter." Thought the Divine Family patriarch, imagining the prosperity this child will bring his Family.

"Refining pills are expensive, not to mention the cost of the other herbs that must be needed." Seeing the patriarch looking appreciative at Shen Yue, one of the elders took the initiative to start negotiations.

"You will need to train some alchemists, but the pills can be made by apprentices. Yes, there are of course other herbs needed. However, they are only common herbs, not worth much. The deal is for one-third of the profit after manufacture costs have been subtracted, not the total price of the pill once sold. I think this is more than fair." Countered Shen Yue.

To increase the Divine Family's principal source of income, was not a trivial matter. If they didn't try to exploit him, then they would leap at the chance to double the Family's income.

"I think we can agree to this. Since you are worried about us taking advantage of you what assurances do you require?" Asked Chen Zenlong, eager to sign a contract and gain some goodwill.

"How about a neutral witness to the contract signing? Say... the City Lord?" Shen Yue knew it was presumptuous to ask Ye Zong to preside over the contract signing, but he needed an 'in' with the patriarch of the greatest Family. The second most influential Family doubling its profits should be enough of a situation to attract his interest.

"I'm sure brother Ye Zong would like to meet the famous 'Runaway Prince' that has his city buzzing. Let's go pay him a visit." Other than raising his eyebrow at this kid's audacity he quickly agreed.

Shen Yue was excited, at the very least, after today, he would have a massive financial backing to further his plans.


	5. Chapter 5

The Snow Wind Family's compound was quite large and had guards at every entrance and courtyard, this seemed to be overkill. The Divine Family's compound was just as big but had half the guards.

With Chen Zhenlong's status, they were escorted to the grand hall without any problems. After ten minutes of waiting, a haggard-looking City Lord walked in and sat on his throne. His long purple hair was mussed, and his usually stern face was replaced with a weary one.

"Brother Chen, I made you wait, please accept my apologies."

"No, it's us that needs to apologise for interrupting you, brother Ye. Is everything alright? My business is not urgent if you need to attend other matters." Said Chen Zhenlong with concern.

Ye Zong hesitated but then decided to confide in Chen Zhenlong. "My wife is unwell, the Family's doctors are unable to treat her. She has fallen into a coma for the last three days, and the doctors are unsure if she will last much longer." His words were full of emotion, it was clear he was straining to hold back tears.

Shen Yue was stunned! Had he suddenly gained plot armour? Will he now randomly fall over, only to realise it was a buried ultimate artifact that he tripped over?

He had only wanted to establish a connection with Ye Zong and maybe get a look at Ye Ziyun, but now he was here at the same time the city lords much-cherished wife was poisoned! He had thought she was already dead.

She had not even been part of any of his plans as she was only mentioned once in the novel randomly. Apparently, his douche father had wanted Ye Zong to suffer, so he poisoned his wife, dude was all kinds of spiteful. It only mentioned she had died when Ye Ziyun was young, which now seems to be when she was six.

This opportunity was too good to pass up, plus it will piss Shen Hong off! Shen Yue was still absolutely livid about the beating he received. After listening to Ye Zong and Chen Zhenlong debate over a possible solution, he threw his hat in the ring.

"Excuse me City Lord, but maybe I can help?" It really was difficult being in a child's body, no one gave him any recognition.

"Who is this child, brother Chen?" Said Ye Zong with a disapproving face.

Chen Zhenlong could only admire Shen Yue's fearlessness, praying he had the capability to back it up. With a resigned sigh, he introduced the little rapscallion to the City Lord.

"This is the 'Runaway Prince', Shen Yue. I brought him here today because we need you to witness a contract signing." Said Chen Zhenlong quickly filling him in on the details of the little terror's saga. Hearing of Shen Yue's exploits and ability, he managed to raise a tired smile.

"You have confidence in treating my wife?"

"No, but I have read over a hundred thousand books, maybe one of them contains a possible answer to her condition." Not wanting to sound too arrogant he downplayed his chances of success.

Ye Zong thought that the chance of the kid helping was close to zero. Left with no other alternative, he swallowed his pride and led them to his private courtyard.

On the bed was a gorgeous woman with long purple hair splayed out above her pillow. Getting the ok from Ye Zong, he approached her and held her wrist. It was time for his cheat library to do its thing. Sure enough, a book was compiled.

[ Ye Rou, 26 years of age, a citizen of Glory City, the wife of City Lord Ye Zong,

Demon Spiritualist Gold 1-Star.

"Flaws: No.1, Cultivation technique is not compatible with soul realm form. No.2, her talent toward cultivation is lacking, her ability to sense energy from heaven and earth, known as qi, is too weak... No.3, the body had been corroded by the aura of Black Oil Tree causing her Eight Extraordinary Meridians to be blocked. The specific locations where the eight meridians are blocked are... ]

"So she is also from the Ye family, that explains the hair colour." After pretending to examine a few of Ye Rou's symptoms, Shen Yue stood up and gave the most solemn look his youthful face could show.

"I'm afraid your wife has been poisoned, I have read of these exact symptoms in a book of my Family's library. It comes from a tree that grows in the Dark Forrest, the Black Oil Tree. Does your wife perhaps have a personal garden, or somewhere she could come into contact with this tree?" Explained Shen Yue, not forgetting to try and implicate his dear ol' dad.

Hearing this, the City Lord rushed them to a private garden, where there were two unassuming saplings behind a bench used to view the garden. Shen Yue positively identified the trees and inquired where they were sourced from. Fuck the timeline, if he could get Shen Hong killed it would make his next six years a lot easier.

Unfortunately, Ye Zong didn't know how they came to be here and was now focused on finding a cure. There absolutely was a cure to help Ye Rou, it was easy to procure and would allow her to heal with little effort.

But Shen Yue wanted to try his luck at souring the relationship between two of the major three families or at the very least, get into the restricted library! You might think it was already that of a cold war, but Ye Zong was totally oblivious towards Shen Hong's hate.

Following lots of assurances that he could cure Ye Zong's wife if he had that book, a party consisting of two Family patriarchs, a heap of guards and a little shit stirrer, was on its way to the Sacred Family to hopefully borrow a book that actually exists.

Without much drama, the group found themselves in front of an annoyed Shen Hong and a group of curious elders. If looks could kill, then Shen Yue would be dead... and he just remembered that Shen Hong could probably kill him with just a glance.

"Fuck it, let's go all out!" He thought as his face developed a shit eating grin. With the two patriarchs next to him, he would be safe from any harm.

"What brings you to my Sacred Family?" Questioned Shen Hong, wondering why the City Lord was here. "Could he know that he was responsible for his wife's condition? No, impossible, I covered my tracks. It must have to do with that brat!" Thought Shen Hong angrily.

"Shen Hong, unfortunately, I don't come under happy circumstances, my wife has fallen ill, and I have been told you might have the answer in saving her. If Brother Shen could help me, I would be most grateful!" Said Ye Zong.

"If there is anything I can do to help, then just ask. It is only natural to lend aid in these situations." The Sacred Family patriarch obviously had to say this, though internally he was worried.

"Thank you, brother Shen, I, Ye Zong will remember this favour! Go get the book, Shen Yue, we must hurry!" Ye Zong was on cloud nine, so close to a cure for his wife.

Shen Yue was pretty sure there was a book on poisons in the restricted area, he just hoped that it covered the Black Oil Tree. There was a scroll in the public section with a cure in it, but it didn't name the poison. It was a higher tier detox pill that would easily do the job, it would be his back up plan, should he be pressured to produce a method of curing Ye Rou.

Not giving a shit about etiquette he ran off before Shen Hong could even ask what book he was referring to. His next obstacle was the guard for the restricted library, as the elder was in the main hall with the patriarchs.

"Halt! This area is restricted!" Shouted the meathead they had planted in front of the door.

"Idiot, I wouldn't be here if I didn't know that! I have been sent here by the City Lord, Patriarch Chen Zhenlong and my father, Patriarch Shen Hong! Do you know them?" Getting a startled nod from the guard, he continued.

"I need the book on poisons covering the Black Oil Tree. Hurry, go fetch it. The City Lord's wife is near death!" Shen Yue made sure to use keywords like 'City Lord' and 'death' to convey the shit storm this guard will be in if he fucks up.

"I, ah, um, I'm not sure." Stammered out the guard.

"That's fine, what's your name? I need to report to the patriarchs which idiot had the balls stopping me from saving the City Lord's wife." Shen Yue knew this guy was about to crack. Sometimes the lines from movies work (if you happen to be reincarnated into a fictional world where the average exposure to Jedi mind tricks are quite low!).

"Fuck just go in, but if this is a trick, the patriarch will punish you heavily." What was left unsaid was that he would also be in for a world of hurt.

Running past the guard as soon as he heard 'go', he ignored the rest of the speech. Entering the room, he was surprised by how small it was. Upon remembering that these are the dangerous/illegal books only able to be seen by elders, it made sense that there would be only three hundred or so books and scrolls.

Usually, he would only scan two books a minute. Taking his time, so as not to damage the book, or look like a crack addict in need of a fix. But it only took five seconds to grab a book, flip the pages, then return it to the shelf.

Thirty minutes later, three hundred books that had been forbidden to him, had been scanned into his library. As luck would have it, or not really, considering how unscrupulous Shen Hong was, there were a total of eighteen books on poisons.

One of them covering the Black Oil Tree in detail. There was even a journal of one of the Sacred Family's member's exploration of the Infinite Forrest! That will surely come in handy later.

Taking the needed book out of his storage ring, as he had found it fifteen minutes ago, he ran out the door not even bothering about the guard yelling at him. Why where these compounds so big! It took him another ten minutes to get back to the patriarchs who had been waiting close to an hour for his return.

These ten minutes of running were much needed as he could barely contain his excitement. He had it! There were three inscriptions of the enslaving variety!

-Soul Shackle – Sometimes known as Soul Chains, binds the targets life to a seal stone. The corresponding seal stone needs only to be crushed to kill the target.

-Blood Imprint – Once the imprint is applied, the person will feel great pain every night. If they were to move a kilometre away from the caster, they would immediately die. It can only be removed if the slave is able to reach the gold rank or if the caster is killed.

-Emphatic Curse – A curse designed to amplify specific emotions, though it eventually causes the target to become insane.

Concentrating on running was all he could do to stop from jumping in joy! It took nearly seven years, the worst beating he had ever had in both lives (not including truck-kun!) and many close calls with mental illness, but he had finally done it. After some massive amounts of modifying, he will be able to build a loyal army!

"Here it is City Lord!" Yue Shen called out as he kicked open the doors, not giving the guards any time to open it or question him. He ran over and shoved the book into Ye Zong's hands.

"What book is it?" Shen Hong asked Shen Yue, nervous that anything could be traced back to him, there shouldn't be a book on Black Oil Tree in the public library!

Shen Yue just ignored him, he had already cut ties with the Sacred Family and was planning on searching disreputable sources for a slave inscription. Now that he had three of them, he really couldn't give a fuck about Shen Hong, especially with the Divine Family's backing and now the City Lords after his help today.

Seeing his son ignore him enraged Shen Hong! The little shit had already spread rumours of how he crippled the boy, and now in front of the Snow Wind and Divine Families, he disrespected him!

He couldn't believe how things had come to this. With the boy's talent, he could have brought the family great benefits. Not to mention all the knowledge they could reproduce if they ever moved to the Nether Realm like he had been planning with the Dark Guild.

Shen Hong hadn't meant to beat him so heavily, but when the little shit called him trash, he had lost control. The lack of treatment had been to teach him a lesson, but he had overlooked Shen Xiu's involvement. Now things were out of his control. He would have to wait until Shen Yue returned to the compound, then he would teach him respect!

Ye Zong had already found the page with the Black Oil Tree information and was over the moon! He would be heading straight to the Alchemy Association to get the antidote made.

"Brother Shen, I can't thank you enough for lending me this book. I will have it returned as soon as I have cured my wife. I will call on you again, hopefully with happy news!" Yelled Ye Zong, almost jogging to the door. He was too eager to retain his composure.

Shen Yue just ran after the City Lord, while Chen Zhenlong saluted and gave a proper salute. Rushing through the streets, no one dared to obstruct the path of such influential people. When they reached the Alchemy Association, they were shown straight to President Gu Yan's courtyard.

While the higher-ups were discussing the antidote, Shen Yue was looking at Gu Yan's personal library! There were only one hundred or so books, but they were bound to be of a higher tier. As soon as the ingredients were brought over Gu Yan started to make the antidote.

While everyone was concentrating on the pill furnace, Shen Yue started flipping pages! Going at a decent pace but as quietly as he could, he was finished well before the pills were made.

Making sure all the books were in order he walked over to watch the pill furnace with the others, not forgetting to compile a book on the President. When he started his own pill making business these techniques and the books he just scanned, will be invaluable.

Shen Yue had no desire to make the acquaintance of the most renowned pill maker in Glory City, he had already stolen all his skills and recipes. When the City Lord left as soon as the pill was made, he followed along.

Two hours later, Ye Rou had awakened from her coma, and everyone was crying in happiness. Feeling very awkward, Shen Yue just stood out of the way. He struggled with emotional situations.

Ye Ziyun was an adorable child, she would be growing into a gorgeous woman. His fellow Earthling's future body already had the appearance perks she had chosen.

"I wonder what happens to this Ye Ziyun's soul? Maybe I can save it when the slapper takes over. Right, it's decided, let's keep a decent relationship with Ziyun. At the very least it will cause the bitch problems when she steals her body if she suddenly changes personality." He thought, making more plans for the future.


	6. Chapter 6

After the tearful reunion, Ye Zong noticed the people off to the side waiting. The City Lord was in a great mood, thanking everyone for their help and support. The contract between Shen Yue and the Divine Family had then been signed and witnessed.

"Are you sure there is nothing else I can do for you, Shen Yue? You have saved my wife where all others failed!" Asked Ye Zong as Shen Yue was saying his goodbyes, there was no need to rush his relationship with the Ye Family after the goodwill he had gained today.

"The land you have granted me is already too much, I only did what any citizen of Glory City would have done." Shen Yue humbly replied.

The City Lord had given him a considerable stretch of land that had yet to be claimed. Shen Yue also had the right to claim any land he recovers and develops from the wilderness. The reason was that it is the furthest piece of land to the east, bordering the demon beast infested Infinite Forrest.

"Although worthless now, as soon as I train up some slav... followers, this will be my gateway to the Heavenly Fate Plateau." He thought to himself. This was a weak human settlement that has survived by hiding. They have little resources and few fighters, a perfect hidden base once he takes it over.

"Well if you're sure. If you need anything you can always come to me, my family owes you a great debt." Said Ye Zong seriously, forgetting status and giving Shen Yue a salute. Shen Yue would be honoured if he cared about that sort of thing.

"City Lord has shown me too much respect, Shen Yue is not worthy! Please, Lord, you have already shown me immense favour!" Doing the whole humble thing had really worn him out. After a few more back and forth of 'not worthy' he finally made his getaway with Chen Zhenlong. He would now be staying in his own private courtyard in the Divine Family compound.

Nineteen days later and he needed to change his occupation to Slave Master. The slave inscription he was designing had ended up turning into a secret technique! The Library of Heaven's Path was really too overpowered!

Shen Yue had spent most of his time manually upgrading anything that remotely had to do with his ideal betrayal countermeasure. Inside his mental library, he gathered all the revised books and ordered them to compile to create a flawless slave inscription.

The end result was a technique, that while the target was unconscious, would partially draw their soul out ready to be marked. He would then use an advanced version of Soul Separating to inscribe a personal seal onto their soul that linked to a permeant inscription seal he would have to create in his soul realm.

This seal would then be capable of killing the target instantly with a thought, causing extreme pain or influencing their emotions! It didn't even matter what cultivation realm they could train too, if they created multiple fate souls, they would all have a link to the inscription seal.

Truly a godlike technique! Unfortunately, he would need to be gold ranked to be able to create the inscription seal in his soul realm.

With that option unavailable due to wanting to wait for his ultimate technique, he had to go with option 'B'. Only compiling the three updated slave techniques he got from his Family's restricted library, gave him a decent inscription that would link the target to a seal stone, needing one for every person he wished to mark.

With a drop of the person's blood and an inscription, Shen Yue could use his soul force to create a seal. If the marked person became a traitor the seal stone would become red. Shen Yue would then be able to kill them by crushing the seal stone. It could even be used as a rough locator/radar and work inside interspatial rings!

This would fit his needs until he reached gold rank and seal stones where reasonably cheap. After going over his slave induction speech, he asked his maid Mei to gather her parents that had moved into his courtyard with her. This was to prevent Shen Hong from using them to leverage Mei into betraying him.

The only problem was her older brother refused to move in and serve him, stating he had his own life and was safe with his bronze fighter status! What an idiot! With no other choice, he could only keep an eye on his new servants and rush the creation of his slave inscription.

"I have asked you here today because I have finalised my plans to create my own organisation. As you know, I was betrayed by my own Family. This has made me cautious in trusting people and forced me to think of a way to prevent this from happening again.

You have chosen to follow me, making me happier than you will ever know, but the time has come to make a decision. If you continue to serve me, I will impart a cultivation technique tailor-made for each of you. This technique will ensure you reach at least black-gold rank demon spiritualist within a year. This I can promise you with one hundred percent confidence!

If you choose to leave, that is also ok. I will give you three thousand demon spirit coins for your service so far and wish you happiness in whatever you choose to do with your lives.

Unfortunately, to be able to trust you with my secrets I will need to have you swear an oath and receive a loyalty mark. If this is too much, I understand."

Shen Yue then watched as his three servants looked at each other and came to a decision. They quickly knelt and then, as if rehearsed, spoke their oath.

"We swear allegiance to our Lord!"

With a wide grin, Shen Yue led them to his personal workspace and proceeded to mark his now fully trusted minions! Each mark took around fifteen minutes to complete with his limited soul force. He needed to rest in between seals to regain his spent soul force.

Although this wouldn't stop his minions from betraying him or spreading his techniques, it would at least be a fail safe for them literally stabbing him in the back. He would conveniently forget to mention the ability to kill them instantly. He doubted even Nie Li could decode his seal mark after the adjustments his library had done to it, it was after all an original inscription!

Even this city, as medieval as it was, had a justice system and copyright laws. This came in the form of the Saint Judgement Hall. This is a courthouse in Glory City that enforces the demon spiritualist code of conduct. This code of conduct has been around for three thousand years and is almost universally followed.

All Shen Yue had to do was create an organisation and have them register said techniques, being careful to close any loopholes that might be exploited. Nie Li thought himself a virtuous patriot of Glory City and claimed to do anything to protect it. But in the end, he was nothing more than a selfish moron.

He could have uplifted the City's people, letting them recover territory lost to demon beasts. He even knew of other human settlements that were struggling to survive. Nie Li only gave minor aid to them if they crossed his path.

But that's not the problem Shen Yue had with Nie Li, he even plotted to destroy the barrier seal placed on Tiny World by a Supreme expert. Because of this protective seal, experts from outside the Tiny World cannot enter it. Only original natives that have reached a high enough cultivation can travel between it and the Draconic Ruins Realm. Even the Sage-Emperor could not break this seal, making it one of the only safe havens in this universe!

Glory City was situated in the Divine continent. It was one of six main continents that make up the Tiny World. However, the Divine Continent is often used when referring to the world as a whole. This is because ninety-nine percent of the world is ruled by demon beasts!

Shen Yue was not generous enough to liberate Tiny World for free, he planned on turning it into his personal world! The only thing negative about the seal was it could only be opened once every five years. But Shen Yue had confidence, that when he was powerful enough, his cheat library could fix this.

"Grab a soul crystal and let's test your soul form and attribute." Ordered Shen Yue.

"Soul form, young master?" Asked Su Qiang, his wife Zhang Jing was also curious.

"Everyone thinks that only a person's attribute will determine their cultivation technique, but what they don't know is that soul form also plays a part. There are thousands of different soul forms. They can make the difference between reaching bronze rank or black-gold rank with the same technique. Unfortunately, most of this knowledge has been lost, and even I don't know what techniques are compatible with which soul realm. We can only try them and then test for compatibility." Explained Shen Yue.

Shen Yue didn't have any books on soul form, he was just using his knowledge of the original novel to bullshit. He did, however, have a massive cheat ability that could spot flaws with a person's cultivation. After an hour of trial and error, he had created the best compatible cultivation technique for each of them.

-Su Qiang – Red soul realm, Scarlet Sun soul form, Fire attribute.

-Zhang Jing – Yellow soul realm, Winged Snake soul form, Wind Lightning attribute.

-Su Mei – Orange soul realm, Heavenly Thundercloud soul form, Lightning Fire attribute.

All pretty low-end soul realms and forms but easy enough to match to techniques. Since these techniques were tailor-made for his minions, he didn't bother to give them names, just labelling them as part of his new clan's techniques.

Attributes were also not really well described in the original novel. It was only after reading a book, by a cultivator named Sanctumdeer, that he had a better understanding. There were seven main attributes that all others were derived from.

Wind (Light blue)

Water (Dark Blue)

Fire (Red)

Lightning (Orange)

Earth (Green)

Holy (Yellow)

Dark (Purple)

Leaving his minions to train, Shen Yue went off to plan world domination. He would need a few organisations that wouldn't overlap if they covered too many professions. He had already decided to create a new Family.

He decided to give it the domineering name of Nemesis, the inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall. His organisations would also have domineering names.

-Heavenly Crafting Guild – Would be in charge of enchanting and blacksmithing.

-Immortal Elixir Guild – Alchemists Associations worst nightmare.

-Celestial Brotherhood – A mercenary group that would hunt for herbs and demon materials.

He would also have to have a group to police these organisations and keep information loss to a minimum. His recruitment pool would, of course, be the many poor commoners that populated Glory City. The current population of the last know bastion of humanity numbered in the millions.

Within Glory City, the number of demon spiritualists is in the thousands, while fighters are in the tens of thousands. With this untapped source, he could build up an army from scratch. After taking them from the slums and providing them with a better life, he hoped they would be appreciative enough not to betray him.

Shen Yue knew better than to just rely on gratitude though, look at what Ye Han did! Even if he was from Earth where human life was sacred, if someone jeopardised his life or livelihood, he would have no qualms killing them!


	7. Chapter 7

Shen Yue was currently sitting in a private room of an inn close by the Alchemy Association. He was waiting for Su Mei to bring back the person he invited to meet with him. Standing outside the door to his room was a black-gold expert on loan to him from the Divine Family.

Although Shen Hong has not tried anything in the two months since he cut ties with them, it was only a matter of time. The only thing that annoyed him was that Shen Xiu never came to see him.

Money was pouring in, and he had splurged buying a heap of items needed for his future subordinates. Stocking up on seal stones, he also got an interspatial ring of medium quality (50sqm space) for everyone with a high position in his plans.

A knock sounded on the door, and he yelled out for them to come in. Two cloaked women entered, one his maid and the other the beauty Yang Xin.

As she removed her cloak, he was treated to a gorgeous face framed by long black hair with a slight violet tinge. Her body was already fully matured and possessed a womanly charm.

Shen Yue had debated if he should reveal his identity to her. He did not want his name tied to the Immortal Elixir Guild, but in the end, he had to. She was too sort after and would be extremely cautious of a mystery backer asking to put a loyalty mark on her, a six-year-old might have a chance.

"Greeting miss Yang, please have a seat." Said Shen Yue standing and saluting to show her respect.

"I was going to turn down your maid's request when she asked me to meet with her 'young master', but when she mentioned it was the famous Runaway Prince, I had to satiate my curiosity. What could young master Shen Yue want with an alchemy apprentice?"

"Don't put yourself down miss Yang, I hear you are already preparing to take your masters exam, one of the youngest in history if you succeed. Today I invited you here to make you an offer, become the GuildMaster of my Immortal Elixir Guild. Before you say anything take a look at this list." Shen Yue said, handing her a piece of paper with a list of pills and the descriptions of their effects.

"These are the pills my guild will be producing, of course after we have registered them with Saint Judgement Hall. You are an orphan, but with strength alone, you have raised yourself up to be capable of one day leading the Association. I have nothing but appreciation for your effort. I want this type of person leading my guild!" He knew from the book she despised those that thought her position was obtained by her appearance, so he made sure not to mention it.

"The only problem is that all my employees will swear an oath to serve me for life and have a loyalty mark inscribed on them, as Shen Hong has shown me, even family will stab you in the back. I hope you can see beyond this, as I can't think of anyone else to run a guild capable of rivalling the Association." He finished his speech hoping the mark was not a deal breaker, he really wanted this beauty!

Yang Xin's cute mouth was hanging open! Some of the pills on this list, have only been referenced to in books, as many of these pill formulas were lost during the Age of Darkness. The rest, were all pills the Alchemy Association sold but the effects were greatly enhanced! This little monster would destroy the Association! To be able to lead a guild with these pills would let her rival the major Families! Too many shocking thoughts were running through her head.

"What is this loyalty mark?" She asked.

"It is an inscription, linking the person to a seal stone and if they have thoughts of betrayal, it will turn red. Since the person has betrayed their oath, they will be blacklisted and killed!" Clarified Shen Yue.

"What about the running of the Guild? What level of authority will I have?"

"I do not want to be associated with the Guild, that is why you wore a cloak when coming here. You will be running it in its entirety but will have to follow any orders I give concerning the direction of the Guild or request for aid. All the people you employ will need to swear an oath to you and then take a sleeping potion so I may mark them without my identity exposed. Only you will know of my connection to the Guild. To sweeten the deal, I will even design a tailor-made cultivation technique for you, guaranteeing you will reach legend rank!" Said Shen Yue, hopefully putting her mind at ease about the seal.

"WHAT! How can you guarantee that? There is only one legend rank in all of Glory City!" Yang Xin shouted. If this was true, it was heaven-defying!

"You know the story of me remembering a third of the books I read? It's wrong, I remember everything. I can even read the forgotten languages." Knowing he had won her over, Shen Yue let her understand a fraction of his skill.

Yang Xin left the inn once again cloaked. She sported a new ring containing a list of pill formulas that were once thought lost. Yang Xin couldn't keep the smile off her face! Not only did she get a chance to oversee an organisation that will rival the dominant Families, she even got a new cultivation technique.

It had taken two tries before Shen Yue was happy with it, but she could tell just after activating it, that it was many times stronger than the one she was given by the Association. Luckily there were no rules about quitting the Association when joining, as it was only a way of preserving the art of alchemy. It had been on the decline for ages, her new guild will be its death blow.

She was under strict instructions to build her own strength first and then quietly recruit members from the poor commoners. She understood how dangerous it would be if anyone got wind of what she kept in her ring. In one year, she would dominate this city!

A week later, this scene was repeated, except with five blacksmiths with financial problems. This time Shen Yue never showed himself and had Su Qiang conduct the interviews while wearing a mask. Only three agreed and took a sleeping potion so Shen Yue could mark them and design a cultivation technique for them. That turned out to be tedious as he needed to knock them out again after they tested their cultivation techniques.

They were ordered to reach the black-gold rank before he would contact them again with enchanting and smithing techniques. They were sent off with enough demon spirit coins to pay their debts and concentrate on training.

Thirty fighters were gathered in a private room of a cheap inn, wondering if they were part of a hoax. They had answered an advertisement in the Fighter Association about a merchant starting a demon beast hunting team.

They were promised high wages and the chance to become demon spiritualist, but everyone knew that was impossible. Fighters were people born with red soul realms and found it too hard to gather enough soul force needed to become a demon spiritualist.

A masked man entered the room and instantly the chatter stopped. After looking around and making sure no one else was coming he closed the door and addressed the crowd of potential minions.

"You have gathered here today because you dream of becoming demon spiritualists. The fighter profession is not one you chose, but one decided for you! That is unless you join my Celestial Brotherhood. Know that this choice is for life and will require your oath and a loyalty inscription mark.

This mark is an inscription that links the target to a seal stone, if they have thoughts of betrayal, it will turn red. Since the person has betrayed their oath, they will be blacklisted and killed! If any of you find this unacceptable, please leave now."

The masked man then waited as five of the fighters left with a few negative comments. "The rest of you, please follow me to another location so we can apply your marks and begin training."

It was a long and tedious affair to make cultivation techniques for his new soldiers. After applying their loyalty marks, he would create a manual for them to test. Shen Yue would then have to examine them again to see if they were compatible and adjust it if needed.

They then had to wait for their second assessment while the others were receiving their marks. Ten hours later and the group gathered together once again to listen to the masked man speak.

"You can all feel the difference in your cultivation speed and now have no doubts that you have chosen the correct path in life by joining my Celestial Brotherhood! Each of you will receive two thousand demon spirit coins and will focus on training for the next six months, no slacking! After, we will gather again and train together to hunt demon beasts. I look forward to seeing your progress brothers!"

Shen Yue had set things in motion to dominate Glory City, he now just needed to wait. At the moment he did not have the power to protect his secrets from being stolen as the Saint Judgement Hall could only guard against attacks in the light.

It was the attacks in the dark that had him worried, the Dark Guild and other nobles would not hesitate to torture the techniques out of his minions as they were powerless commoners with no backing. As long as there was no evidence, they could then claim the skills or formulas for themselves.

Shen Yue had given strict instructions that they were to tell no one, not even their wives or children. They were permitted to recruit members and slowly introduce their new products into the market after copyrighting them.

Shen Yue had clearly listed the rules they would have to follow, making sure his minions had them memorised. Betraying these rules deliberately, would turn their seal stones red and sentence them to death.

He tried to stress the importance of this, and Su Qiang, the masked man, had assured him that he had followed his instructions to the letter. Unfortunately, six months later, when the Celestial Brotherhood met up, they were four members short.

When the members met at the new Celestial Brotherhood headquarters, they were greeted with the sight of four decapitated heads underneath a plaque that read, 'Oath Breakers'! Shocked at this scene, they were once again reminded of the seriousness of the oath they took. Six months of raising through the demon spiritualist ranks had dulled the edge of their pledge.

All the surviving members were at the gold rank, with one even being at black-gold level! This sudden rise in power and status had gone to a few of their heads, they had believed they were special. Some held ideas of extorting a higher place in the newly formed mercenary group, but that was quickly suppressed by the sight that greeted them upon entering their new headquarters. Suddenly a powerful voice called out to them.

"Greetings brothers, I'm glad to see that most of you have honour, and have remained true to your oaths. If you can't even stay faithful to your oath, then how can our brothers trust you to have their back when fighting demon beasts?"

These words struck the group like lightning, they had not even thought that far ahead. They had only come for benefits, but after thinking about fighting in the wild, they agreed unanimously with these words. They had all heard of stories about being betrayed, commoner fighters with no backing used as bait or worse. Suddenly they felt pride that maybe their new 'Brotherhood' might be something more than just a mercenary group out for profits!

This was the moment that the strongest mercenary troop to ever exist in Glory City, was established.


	8. Chapter 8

Today was Shen Yue's eighth birthday, and he was quite chuffed with himself. Just over a year ago he had sowed the seeds of three organizations, and they have now grown into dominant powers within Glory City. Of course, as with all things, there will be a few 'bad apples'. But these were simple enough to take care of.

One of the blacksmiths tried to sell the enchanting inscriptions to the Secret Treasure Pavilion, thinking that because he had reached the black-gold rank, his mysterious employer would be unable to touch him.

Regrettably, when the meeting was taking place, fifteen powerful masters annihilated everyone in the room and vanished after looting them. The only thing the city guard found at the gruesome scene, was a Dark Guild mark! Shen Yue had no problem throwing the blame onto others.

The remaining two blacksmiths knew that it was not the work of the Dark Guild, as the traitorous smith's head had been left in there workshop. Next to the head was a pile of coins and the instructions to keep up the good work! Safe to say, they were remarkably diligent in making the Heavenly Crafting Guild, the most prestigious guild in the city.

Shen Yue had obtained fifty young adults from the poor population, pumping them full of techniques, equipment, and resources. When he recruited for his Heavenly Crafting Guild, he also found a worthy family to be his personal smith. With countless resources, they rose to the black-gold rank before any of the members of the Celestial Brotherhood.

When those four brothers rebelled, it was these fifty youths that tracked them down, a different team for each of the four targets. This was to show the group what betrayal delivers.

Yang Xin had not disappointed him, and after nine months of preparation, she walked into Saint Judgement Hall to register her guild and pills. That single move was the first blow to the inevitable downfall of the Alchemy Association.

Shen Yue had given her enough demon spirit coins to train up twenty youths into capable apprentices. They did not have the knowledge required to pass the tests of the association, but they were trained in refining the different pills sold by their guild. Their cultivation had also been promoted to the gold rank making refining easier.

The Celestial Brotherhood was recognised as the dominant presence in Glory City, with its original twenty-one members at peak black-gold. For some weird reason, they could not advance to legendary rank, almost as if something was stopping them! The most popular opinion was that the legend rank was just too difficult to achieve with their red soul realm.

After their first successful hunt, they were directed to take squires. They could choose anyone, but if the squire betrayed the guild, it was their duty to put them down and place the severed head of the traitor in the Hall of Villains!

Shen Yue really was quite satisfied with how his projects had turned out. His mercenary company practically ran itself, with Su Qiang there to resolve the major problems. Yang Xin was recruiting only the cream of the crop from the Alchemy Association and promising youths from the commoners.

Yang Xin still hadn't found any reliable subordinates with enough ability to help manage the guild, so she was run a bit ragged. The Heavenly Crafting Guild only supplied the market with quality bronze and silver rank weapons and armour. The exception was the Celestial Brotherhood, they received the highest quality black-gold equipment the smiths' could make.

This blatant favouritism and the sudden emergence of three major organisations with peak masters raised many questions. Even Blind Freddy could see the relation between them, but there was no link beside the exclusive deal between the Celestial Brotherhood and the Heavenly Crafting Guild.

The patriarchs of the most influential Families in Glory City had been on high alert since these groups had suddenly appeared. Yet only the mercenary group had an unknown leader, everyone else had been recognised as a citizen of Glory City. They had all emerged with too much strength, even if they had desired to do something it was far too late now.

If a Family produces a gold rank demon spiritualist, they can become an Aristocrat Family. Similarly, a black-gold rank can become a Noble Family, and if they produce three black-gold or a legend rank expert, they can become a dominant Family.

Before Shen Yue disrupted the balance of Glory City, there had only been three primary Families, seven Noble Families and twenty Aristocratic Families. Anyone of his three companies could rival a dominant Family.

There was also his own Family. Shen Yue had not publically announced his Nemesis Family, but its members already dwarfed his other businesses' might. He had gone through three recruitment drives, each time selecting fifty guards.

-Su Qiang - Lord Chamberlain, 1- star Legend

-Zhang Jing - Master of the Household, 3-star Legend

-Su Mei - Maid, 2-star Legend

Guards rank:

\- 1 x 3-star Legend

\- 4 x 2-star Legend

\- 45 x 1-star Legend

\- 50 x Gold

\- 50 x Bronze

Other than Yang Xin and his Family servants, he had placed a seal on his other minions to prevent them from reaching legend rank. It was quite an ingenious design in its simplicity. It was a switch fused into their loyalty mark and cultivation technique, that activated when they reached the 5-star black-gold rank. It made them unable to absorb Qi as if they were back using their original cultivation technique.

Even though it was his birthday, he still finished his morning training. Since he couldn't absorb any soul force without becoming a bronze rank, he did the next best thing, focusing on control and strength of his soul force. This was done by using his upgraded version of Secret Soul Technique. Other than this, he kept his fitness levels up and did some mild bodybuilding without damaging his young body.

But now it was time for his birthday present, treasure! It was time to raid the Ancient Orchid City Ruins for loot. Su Mei had already arranged everything and was just waiting on him. Stepping out of his private courtyard, he looked around his compound, please with what he saw.

Immediately after the Su family reached the black-gold rank, he had used his substantial fortune to create a massive compound in the poor section of Glory City. It was easy enough with the money he threw around, from relocating families to paying workers, he made sure to compensate them well, keeping his public sentiment high.

He had a tempory house constructed first and moved in straight away, giving the explanation when asked, that it was to oversee construction. But it was to be close to his newly recruited guards, disguised as workers. Even after his mansion was built, thanks to the massive amount of cheap labour available, he just used the excuse of retaining some of the workers as guards. This baffled everyone as they assumed he only had bronze fighters protecting him.

They found out the hard way when none of the people sent returned. Shen Hong was especially pissed off as he lost a black-gold expert! The Sacred Family only had four of them including Shen Hong! All up, they had exterminated twenty-four experts sent to capture the young genius, with the majority from the Dark Guild. Shen Yue had made sure to scan the defeated enemies for books, but nothing impressive was discovered. There was one captured enemy that caused great regret to the Su family.

The bronze fighter that had refused his service, to keep living his life had been recruited to help kidnap Shen Yue. Su Dong had been quickly captured by his own father. If it didn't pain his trusted servants, Shen Yue would have found the situation extremely funny.

Believing his family to have no cultivation, he had ordered them to move out the way so he could do his job. When they had refused, clichéd lines like 'don't blame me' and, 'you don't know the power of who I work for' were thrown out. Su Dong was promptly knocked out, and Shen Yue told them to throw him out on the street and give the idiot a second chance. If he tried again, then he would be crippled.

It was hard to keep a straight face through the entire event, as he really did appreciate the Su family. Su Qiang practically ran his empire, Zhang Jing ran his compound with an iron fist, and Su Mei was super cute. Cultivation really did improve appearances. Su Mei had been easy on the eyes before, but now she rivalled supermodels!

As Shen Yue walked to the gates of his compound, he noticed Su Mei addressing a group of twenty teenagers wearing cloaks.

"Young master, we are ready when you are." Informed Su Mei, handing a child-sized cloak to him.

"Then let's head out!" Shen Yue was excited, everybody loves treasure!

Travelling to the ruins was a simple affair, the only difficulty was not being seen using their abilities. Once assured they wouldn't be observed, Su Mei picked Shen Yue up, and the group made legendary speed towards the Ancient Orchid City Ruins.

It took Nie Li and his group six days of walking to get there. Their group did it two. They could have made it there in one day, but they were not in a rush since a few of the boys wanted to fight some demon beasts. They didn't get many chances at live combat exposure.

Finding where Nie Li entered the underground palace didn't take long. With legend experts eliminating anything that came too close, the ruined statue was located quite quickly.

Shen Yue touched the statue, letting his library work its magic. The ancient text was quickly interpreted and password obtained. Best cheat system ever! With Su Mei holding him, and his assembly of legendary experts gathered around, he read out the words to activate the pitfall. Floating down to the underground palace, they had a much smoother descent than Nie Li and Ye Ziyun.

Plundering anything of value on their trip to Emperor Kong Ming's tomb, it was almost pleasant walking through the underground maze. With twenty legend-ranked guards, the traps were quickly found and disarmed. Without too many delays, they reached the great hall that held Kong Ming's stone coffin.

The hall was full of bones from people that sheltered here when the city was destroyed. Shen Yue immediately ordered his men to plunder the shit out of the room, every skeleton was to be checked thoroughly.

The coffin gave off a great pressure that with Shen Yue's lack of cultivation would have been impossible to approach if he was by himself. With his guards dealing with the coffin's aura, he cautiously approached an touched the ancient stone coffin.

And just like that, the problem disappeared!

[ Fake Emperor Kong Ming Coffin,

"Flaws, No 1, Didn't account for a young master with expert guards and a cheat system... ]

The text on the coffin ended up being a riddle that needed the answer spoken aloud to unlock. Shen Yue retreated to a safe distance and ordered his guards to gather in one area. When the sarcophagus was activated, they were waiting to absorb the expert's un-dissipated soul force. Ten minutes later, the coffin was unlocked, and his guards had gained a boost to their cultivation.

Inside was one of the Temporal Demon Spirit Book's missing pages and the abstruse gemstone. Lending the necklace to Su Mei until he could cultivate, he scanned the page with his library. Unfortunately, it was not considered a book or scroll, but instead an artifact. By pouring one's soul force into the page, if it was strong enough to resonate with the pattern, they could activate the ability of the page.

Not a total loss, he would be collecting them all anyway, so he was rather pleased instead. With this area cleared, it was time to find the treasury, and two days later, the secret door leading there was found and opened. There were mounds of gold coins piled high and littered with weapons, armour, scrolls, and materials.

"Why would someone do that? A treasury should be well organised with everything labelled. How else would you find anything?" Said Shen Yue to his cute maid.

Su Mei could only shake her head, she also wondered why people regularly threw their treasure together in piles carelessly.

"Maybe it is a countermeasure against theft; If they can not find what they seek quickly, it will increase the chance of being caught?" She speculated. It sounded as good as any reason to store valuable possessions on the floor in an unorganised heap.

"Well, lets only take a quarter of this vast pile of riches and leave the rest for someone else... said no one sane! Honestly, you would have to be an absolute retard to give this away!" Yelled Shen Yue mockingly, remembering some of the fan-fictions he had read.

Nie Li had reached the pinnacle of cultivation to battle the Sage-Emperor with little to no resources. Did they really think that with his future knowledge and skills, he couldn't do it again? It was ludicrous, Shen Yue would be keeping everything for himself to use on his subordinates.

The guards had looked at him like he was a fool when he was talking about abandoning the find of a lifetime. 'Even if he has awesome skills, he is still an eight-year-old!' they laughed to themselves as they began to sort the loot into piles of the same type.

Five hours later, and there wasn't even mouse shit left on the floor. Shen Yue had pillaged everything, paying particular attention to the Shadow Devil Spirit Lamp. Too bad he didn't find the Nightmare Demon Pot, he would have to loot the Dark Ruins to get that bad boy.

It was a pity his plot armour no Jutsu didn't activate, it would have saved him some time. But that would be absurd, expecting there to be two heavens-defying artifacts around the same city was laughable.

With everything packed away, it was finally time to check out his own land.


	9. Chapter 9

Before they left the ruins, Shen Yue had his maid had over the special supplies he asked her to gather. A few old blank pages and some demon beast blood. Taking out the Temporal Demon Spirit Book page he found, he proceeded to make an exact duplicate. Although they look the same, there was nowhere near the same amount of aura coming from the forgery.

As the group neared the Heavenly Marks Family, Shen Yue called for his mightiest guard, Lin Feng. He possessed the best natural talents out of the people Shen Yue had tested. With a rarely seen green soul realm and Snow Wind Tiger soul form, he had reached the 3rd star of legend rank the quickest. With all his previous assignments completed quickly and efficiently, Lin Feng was Shen Yue's first choice for this sensitive mission.

"Lin Feng I have a mission for you. The patriarch of the Heavenly Marks Family has an interspatial ring somewhere on his chest. Inside this ring is a small box with a page like this, wrapped in a red cloth. I need you to swap them without the patriarch knowing. Moreover, in their treasury is a soul puppet blueprint that looks like a bird, I want this also." Ordered Shen Yue, handing him the forgery.

Lin Feng bowed, replying with an 'as you wish master', Shen Yue really was ecstatic he found him during his first recruitment. Lin Feng's circumstances had been appalling, making him fanatically loyal when saved from his old life. With confidence that the second page would soon be in his hands, they continued at speed to the Nemesis Family's lands east of Glory City.

The area Shen Yue chose was the pass to the Infinite Forrest, sandwiched between towering mountains. If he established his Family domain here, it would cut off almost all access to the Infinite Forrest. Shen Yue would control the entire east once he eliminated the demon beasts. The only other way to access the Infinite Forrest would be a path south of Glory City. A route through a 5-star, black-gold Snow Wind Great Ape's territory and it's beast horde.

After passing the Huang Family's land, an aristocratic house, the Nemesis Family territory came into view. It was more a valley than a pass, being around twenty-five kilometres wide, with a mix of hills, trees and suitable farmland. The hills swept across the valley creating a natural barrier, separating the Huang Family's farms and the twenty kilometres of wildland between the Infinite Forest.

With nineteen legend experts, remodelling the land turned out to be easy. After integrating with their demons, building up the hills into a plateau for the Family mansion was just a matter of time. Redeeming rock from the nearby mountain range with interspatial rings, the planned twenty-metre high, four kilometres squared platform was completed with ease when Lin Feng arrived with fifty gold rank experts to help. The natural barrier of hills was condensed into the beginnings of a wall, ready to be reinforced when the architects arrived.

A month later and The Nemesis valley was entirely transformed. Gone was the rugged landscape dotted with hills and trees. In its place was a levelled area ready for agriculture, with lumber stacked near the site of the planned Nemesis Mansion. Shen Yue would be pleased when he saw it, as the day after Lin Feng arrived, he handed a set of rough plans to his men and left for his next destination.

Lin Feng had completed his mission with no difficulties and handed the page and blueprints to Shen Yue. Waiting for Nie Hai to fall asleep, it was child's play for a 3-star legend to infiltrate and change out the page when the only gold rank in the mansion was sleeping.

Taking Su Mei, Lin Feng and three other legend guards, they flew through the air above the Infinite Forrest trying to locate the Heavenly Fate Plateau. Early the next day they found it. With a circumference of about one hundred and sixty kilometres, its population was only a few thousand.

Shen Yue directed Su Mei to land on top of the plateau, where the steep mountain path connects to the ground because there was no way he was climbing it.

"I still don't see why we have to go through with this farce young master." Su Mei complained.

"Because it will give us justification to enslave a whole community and make me feel better. Just remember the script." Said Shen Yue, rolling his eyes, this was the third time she nagged him about his plan.

Dressed in ragged clothes and each carrying a pack of food, they walked into the settlement. Reaching the market, Su Mei started to call out deals that would entice even the most well-fed of the starving village. With her beauty and charming voice, word quickly got around that strangers were buying worthless Purple Smoke Rocks for meat!

It wasn't long after the first transaction was completed that people came to make trouble. Funnily enough, it was the same guy that harassed Nie Li albeit a much younger version. Xiao Kuang looked around fifteen, still bald with no shirt but free of any scars he would have had in the future. With a posse of several well-built men, they pushed the crowd apart and stood in front of Se Mei menacingly.

"Oh, a foreigner." Xiao Kuang sneered, "Do you know where this is? If you want to trade here, you have to pay taxes!" He said, using the same excuse he did for Nie Li, he must have a prepared speech.

"Please, young master, we need these rocks to save our chief. He tried to forcibly break through to the black-gold rank but failed, and the backlash injured him heavily." Called out Su Mei with her best weak and wretched bearing.

"Oh, you are quite the beauty, ok I will make you a deal. All this food for three bags of Purple Smoke Rocks and you will be mine from now on." Xiao Kuang said arrogantly, Releasing a peak silver fighter aura.

"Shameless!" Shouted Lin Feng, restricting his aura to a 2-star silver rank and stepping in front of Su Mei. Xiao Kuang threw a powerful punch, hitting Lin Feng in the stomach and dropping him to the ground 'heavily' injured. It was quite the 'B' grade movie plot.

"Trash, now the deal is only for one bag of rocks!" He laughed arrogantly along with his cronies.

"How dare you! Surely your chief will have you punished for robbing and attacking merchants! Everyone, please help us bring justice to these criminals!" Shouted Su Mei following Shen Yue's script nicely.

"Chief? You think my father would care for weak trash foreigners? Keep dreaming!" Xiao Kuang and his men laughed even louder. The crowd just looked at them with pity or schadenfreude.

"I've seen enough, cripple them, also break their arms and legs." Came a ruthless, childish voice. Lin Feng stood back up uninjured, and the rest of the group released suffocating auras. A second later, hair raising screams and sickening snapping noises echoed out, causing some in the crowd to vomit.

Shen Yue wasn't doing so well himself, looking a little green. It was one thing to give brutal orders but quite another to witness them being enforced. Lin Feng must have held a grudge because Xiao Kuang's bones were sticking out of his skin, compound fractures were messy.

Su Mei was looking quite aggrieved as well, she was staring daggers at Lin Feng for taking her prey and could only have her revenge after he was finished with him. Many men in the crowd cringed after her vicious kick, it seems that Su Mei didn't like the fact Xiao Kuang tried to trade her like an animal.

Taking a few deep breaths to steady himself as he surveyed the suddenly frightened crowd, he finished the script he wrote days ago.

"You people sicken me! We came here to test you, to see if you were worthy enough to join our city. Not even half an hour and you were ready to rape and pillage when we offered you a generous deal! It seems that you are not human, but animals, and so you will be treated like the beasts you are. Bring the chief here now, if he is not here in five minutes his son will be tortured until he gets here."

Shen Yue laid pretty good odds that they would be treated poorly and it was gratifying to be right. Still, the brutal violence he just witnessed will be hard to get used too. That eerie sound of bone breaking and the heart-piercing screams chilled his blood. The most violence he saw in his past life was a drunken fight or two with a bloody nose, this was ten levels above that!

The chief appeared minutes later and took in the site of his crippled son, crying on the ground. With rage, he tried to lash out but was restrained easily by two of Shen Yue's guards, they didn't even need to use their demon spirits.

"What is the meaning of this!" Shouted the aggrieved white-haired man.

"I would ask the same of you, savage! We came here to test if you were worthy of joining our city, but your people tried to rape my maid and steal our food. Since you are the chief I hold you responsible, cripple him." Said Shen Yue with his best bond villain impersonation.

"No, wait!" Unfortunately, Lin Feng did not wait and soon another agonising scream rent the air.

"Never let it be said that I, Shen Yue, didn't give you a choice, you have two hours to leave the plateau or serve my Nemesis Family. Of course, since you tried to take my possessions, I will take yours! You may only depart with the clothes on your back." He uttered another vicious command, astounding the gathered crowd once more! How brutal was this child!

After seeing the ease with which their strongest warrior was dispatched, no one was willing to step out to defy the little tyrant. One of the guards handed Shen Yue the chief's storage ring, but it held only a few scrolls and low-grade items.

When he had finished scanning the scrolls, some fighting techniques, a brave soul asked how they would serve his Family. Shen Yue listed out his plans for the plateau expecting them to be followed.

\- All unmarried, beautiful women were recruited to be his maids.

\- All warriors were to be branded and serve in his army.

\- People with professional skills will be imprinted and work for him.

\- Everyone without a trade will farm.

\- All personal possessions now belonged to him.

\- Will be fed for work.

These domineering words once again reminded the crowd how they should have stood out and helped this little Lord. But with the strength of his guards and the food they possess, maybe there will be enough food for the whole village for once! Starving to death was not a pleasant way to die.

Three weeks later and the plateau was a different place. The two hundred or so warriors and twenty maids were branded, given a new cultivation technique and ordered to train. Shen Yue had become quite proficient in creating techniques, but ten warriors wasted his efforts and had to be executed when they tried to escape after getting their manuals.

The shanty town had been demolished, and new group housing was built with the lumber flown up inside storage rings. Although the lumber was green, the builders assured him they had techniques to fix this problem. Soul force for the win!

Massive farms were being marked out and tilled. A team of one thousand workers were digging up the fertile dirt below the plateau, while the legend ranked guards stood by watching for demon beasts. When all the spare storage rings were filled, one of the guards would transport the dirt to the top and empty it into the pegged out areas.

Interspatial rings really were convenient, he couldn't understand why they were so cheap. One of the pills the Divine Family were now selling was the same price as a medium quality ring! The hilarious part was that these were only scavenged from ruins, no one knew how to make them! As soon as he had enough money, he bought every available ring before the price could rise, they had too many uses and were too cheap not to buy.

With his future base set up, he left Lin Feng there to manage it in his absence. A day later, and he was surveying his Family lands, impressed at how perfectly it turned out. Everything was coming together exactly as he had planned it, those many years ago as a baby. Unable to move, the only thing that kept him sane was his future plans to become a god and being surrounded by beauties.

If only he could cultivate, the wait was destroying him! Shen Yue couldn't even 'touch' his supermodel maid to ease his depression, as it only added to the pain! His childish body refused to cooperate with his adult mind, dwarfing the misery compared to not being able to cultivate. This was why reincarnating early was in the detriments column, he was sure of it!


	10. Chapter 10

"Four years! The little shit is off enjoying himself while my Sacred Family is suffering for it!" Shen Hong yelled angrily, smashing the teacup he was holding on the floor.

He had really made a mess of the situation, thinking back to that fateful day four years ago. As if it was a prophecy spoken by Shen Yue, Shen Fei had turned out less than desirable. He should have just let the little shit into the restricted library, he ended up getting in there anyway! Shen Hong had a sneaking suspicion that his ability to remember a third of the books read was understated.

Since that fateful day, things had not gone favourably for the patriarch. Waiting six months for his stubborn, bastard child to return, he realised that he had already soured the relationship between them too much for Shen Yue to rejoin the Family willingly. With no other choice, he informed the Dark Guil of the child's abilities and the situation.

That was when they began losing experts, Sacred Family even lost a black-gold elder! The only conclusion they could come to was that Ye Mo had taken an interest in the child and decided to protect him. After repeated failures, word came from the Demon Lord to keep an eye on him and that he would act personally when the time was right.

He had hoped to use Shen Xiu to lure the brat home, but that had also ended in failure. Luckily Shen Xiu was quite naive and believed him when he threatened to have the child killed if she associated with him. The little shit had flat out told her to 'dump that failed family' and told her to join his! Without his threat, he was not sure if she would refuse!

He could only bide his time and continue on with his other plans, the child would end up in his hands sooner or later! He had already crippled the Winged Dragon Family, extorting a betrothal for his useless son and forcing them to sell off their property. He had managed to buy twenty-five percent of it, but he was sure they sold at least eighty percent. Shen Hong failed to find out to who bought it.

He would have prefered a betrothal to Ye Ziyun for his son, but that wayward little annoyance had disrupted his plans again! With the number of times Shen Yue was invited to the City Lord's manner on a 'play date' it was easy to see that Ye Zong had plans to marry her to him.

With Ye Rou still alive Ye Zong had been insufferable! Even inviting Shen Hong as the guest of honour to his banquet for his wife's recovery! Luckily he had killed off any loose ends connecting him to that incident, and Ye Zong was too oblivious to see the book on poisons as a connection.

It galled him that it was his own son that was destroying his plans, if only he had brought him to his side to rule instead of thinking he was a tool to be used, he was too used to being disappointed in his subordinates to think of them as an equal. Turning his thoughts to other sinister plans, he did his best to forget his greatest mistake.

Shen Yue, on the other hand, was living the dream! Just before his tenth birthday, he woke up with a morning glory! He was so excited that he yelled out for his head maid, Su Mei to come and 'solve' his problem. Luckily, Su Mei was more than happy to 'attend' to his issue, apparently being a ten year old made no difference in her eyes. Pedophilia not really being a thing in a world where it was common for thirteen-year-olds to marry and start a family.

Since then Shen Yue had 'deepened' his relationship with Su Mei, and he now considered her as 'his woman'. Other than his love life, his plans were proceeding as planned.

The Brotherhood had blown out to over a hundred members, and the Alchemy Association had disbanded. Unable to make a profit since all their pills were inferior to the Immortal Elixir Guild, they had no choice. The Heavenly Crafting Guild had absorbed five more blacksmith shops into their guild, however birds die for food, and humans die for money.

The Secret Treasure Pavilion had forgotten the lesson they were taught, once again soliciting a new smith for enchanting techniques. Shen Yue was not sure what was going on in the treasure pavilion because with the patterns copyrighted, they would be unable to use them anyway. Still, they were harshly reminded that the Heavenly Crafting Guild did not tolerate betrayal.

The blacksmith's head was delivered to the Guild's shop with another note to 'work hard', causing the veteran smiths to shake their heads in pity and the new ones to place more importance in their oaths. The Secret Treasure Pavilion mysteriously burnt to the ground that night. Curiously, when sifting through the ashes, they were unable to find any remnants of any items sold in the shop. Only a few of their guards' burnt bodies were found.

The Heavenly Fate Plateau had become a thriving community. With plenty of food provided by Shen Yue and their crops once they matured, the peoples' health was much improved. This caused a tremendous increase in children born and Shen Yue was praised even after robbing them of all their possessions.

The warriors were decked out in equipment produced by the Heavenly Crafting Guild and were now able to clear all demon beasts around their plateau. The materials were sold to the crafting guild at market price, gifting him with more cash. The Maids were moved to his Family lands to serve in his mansion. He held off opening up the black spring cave, wanting to wait until he was able to cultivate to benefit fully from it.

The other thing that brought him joy was his new Family lands. The whole of Glory City was talking about the emergence of a new major Family with the patriarch being a child! The 'Runaway Prince' saga continued with a new chapter, and he became the most desirable candidate for marriage before he even physically matured! Thanks to his fame, it was easy hiring from the populace to work his estate.

Unlike other families that gave them a share of the total crop, only leasing them the farm, Shen Yue chose to pay them an annual salary. Shen Yue solely hired families and gave them a huge salary of five thousand demon spirit coins a year. This was a tremendous sum on par with a bronze rank soldier in the City's army! His generosity only fueled his fame making it impossible to compare him to the canon Shen Yue.

Shen Yue did not plant Purple Haze Grass at his Family estate, instead choosing to clear a vast area of the Infinite Forrest around the Heavenly Fate Plateau. With it needing three years to mature he would have quite the stock to sell once he got the recipes from Nie Li. He was hoping to hide his identity from the Earth slapper, transferring her and Nie Li's attention to the mysterious masked man in charge of the Celestial Brotherhood.

Thinking of Nie Li made him remember Su Mei's request for a weapon. She prefers close range fighting, and with her Abyss Tiger, she loved to get up close and personal. Using his cheat library to search for a suitable weapon he came up with something he had missed! Su Mei, being a 5-star ranked legend was sent for some practical training.

After having his personal blacksmith make him a duplicate set of items according to his descriptions from the manhua, he gave Su Mei the mission of pillaging the Heavenly Marks Family treasury once again. This time Shen Yue coveted the soul weapon katar and an enigmatic black pearl that was never mentioned after Nie Li obtained it. With a joyful scream and a quick embrace, Su Mei rushed off to prepare for her trip outside.

With no unexpected problems, she returned the next night complaining that her new weapons were not very impressive. Su Mei soon changed her mind after he showed her how to fix them.

Su Mei manipulated her soul force to continually refine the set of katar, changing the shape slightly to suit her needs. Slowly, the rust stains on the katar disappeared. The pair of katar began to emit a dazzling lustre, bursting into light particles and being absorbed into her soul realm. Su Mei made sure to thank Shen Yue repeatedly that night.

A very exhausted Shen Yue walked into his meeting room the next morning. Even though he had trained his body, it was no match for Su Mei's stamina. Addressing the assembled guards, he laid out his plans for the next couple months. It was time to conquer the Abyss Prison Realm.


	11. Chapter 11

Dominating the Abyss Prison Realm would be exceedingly easy as it would be completely cut off from Glory City once Shen Yue masters the array. There would be no need to hide his identity or strength, as he planned to lock Nie Li out of the array controls. The only obstacle was the mysterious old man.

According to the book, the 'Mysterious Old Man' has an outward appearance that looks deceptively frail, with long grey hair and beard. Dressed in ragged clothes and thin as a rake, his eyes are empty as he staggers while walking, giving off an overwhelming killing intent. He is definitely above legend rank.

The Old Man was enigmatic, and he could only warn his men about it. Told to handle any seemingly feeble old men with respect and not to abuse anyone without reason. Shen Yue ordered his people to escape if they somehow provoked this crazy unknown expert.

With three hundred peak legend experts moving in five-man squads, Shen Yue advanced to the Ten Millennium Spatial Array hopefully without drawing attention to himself. He was of course dressed in a long cloak with the hood up just in case they were noticed.

The array was protected by an origin barrier originating from the Woodland Empire. Surrounding the shield of light was sixteen, six-meter tall dome-like towers, carved with intricate inscription patterns. It apparently needs twenty-three Stones of Light as the power core to transport people to the subsidiary realm known as the Abyss Prison Realm.

Nie Li was able to open up the barrier by inserting a bit of soul force into the correct pattern on each pillar. Shen Yue, on the other hand, just needed his Library of Heaven's Path to scan the array and find its flaws, operating method and history. After having Su Mei fly him around the formation barrier, his library compiled a book for him; the Library really was too overpowered.

Activating the pillars in the correct sequence, his soldiers gathered on the teleportation array once the barrier was down. Shen Yue did not neglect to investigate the flaws of the teleport array with his library, as only activated formations could be scanned. With a flash of light, they were in a dreary place that seemed to be forever stuck at dusk.

Shen Yue had briefed his men on the demon beasts that Nie Li had encountered on his way to the Silverwing Family. The thousands of Scarlet Ghosts, a creature resembling a red monkey, were eradicated with no quarter given. The blood crystals that a few of them had were retrieved.

The Netherlamp Behemoth was a massive slow-moving monstrosity with many tongues that shot out to capture its prey. Its saliva has a mild hallucinatory effect. It was quickly overwhelmed, and its tongues severed, Shen Yue gave orders to capture it alive.

Shen Yue was always curious why demon spirits were so rare. According to the books he read, the demon's spirit was found in its cerebrum, having a minuscule possibility of appearing. Barely one or two were found in tens of thousands of demon beasts killed. This baffled Shen Yue, as just like all humans have a soul, all demons must have a spirit!

After comprehensive research done on demon beasts captured by his people at the Heavenly Fate Plateau, he found the answer, and it was ridiculous that no one had worked it out before.

Maybe it was because he knew that in the novel, the demon beasts had their own faction, or that he was aware of the cause behind the dark age. However, he found it hard to believe that people, as greedy as they are, didn't try to find a way to increase the drop rate.

If all humans have a soul, the equivalent to a demons' spirit, why did they not appear when they were killed? Would one manifest if tens of thousands were killed? Not insane enough to prove his theory, he used his library and knowledge of souls to scan captured demon beasts to find an answer.

The Soul Separating technique that he had upgraded previously ended up being the solution. After being slightly altered, he now had a way to extract the demon spirits of any captured demon beast! Shen Yue was not spending hundreds of thousands merely for a silver ranked demon spirit, he just had his men acquire their own!

The entire market of demon spirit stones was bought out overnight, and Shen Yue now had a team at the plateau concentrating on solely making them. This world-altering discovery was kept exclusively in-house. It was made extremely clear that the harshest of penalties awaited any who leaked this technique, even implicating their families.

With the Netherlamp Behemoth's spirit now in a demon stone, they were free to keep moving towards the Silver Winged Family territory. Shen Yue had thought about it but decided not to reenact the little play he had performed at the Heavenly Fate Plateau. The Abyss Prison Realm Families had spent too long isolated and at war with each other to follow Shen Yue, a foreigner, just because he offered food and techniques.

Other than an alliance against the Silver Winged Family, the thirteen dominant Families fought for resources constantly and had at one time or another clashed with each other. That left only smashing them into obedience and enslaving them. Shen Yue was really on his way to becoming a dictator of a totalitarian regime.

Without any posturing or arrogant speeches, he had his soldiers swoop in and restrain all the hierarchy of the clan, dragging them to the throne room. He didn't forget to personally visit a certain slave chained to a pillar covered in wounds.

"Hey there, you look like you could do with some help." Shen Yue said to the youth, Duan Jian. He just glared back at Shen Yue, not speaking. Being tortured since birth probably wiped out his sense of humour.

"What would it take for you to swear fealty to me?" Shen Yue asked.

"The head of that old bandit Sikong Yi!" Replied Duan Jian immediately.

"Are you sure? You will need to have a loyalty inscription mark, but I promise to make you a legend rank expert."

"Yes, if you give me Sikong Yi, then my life is yours! If you want me to live, then I will live, if you want me to die then I shall die!" Came the resolute response.

Smiling, and telling his guards to unchain Duan Jian, they proceeded to the throne room. What waited for them, was approximately two hundred disarmed royal guards confined in the corner of the room, and fifty or so noble personages kneeling with one of his men behind them. Sikong Yi had three.

Duan Jian had a smile on his face and hope in his eyes, the only thing he lived for was right in front of him. She Yue walked to the throne and sat down to the outraged cries of the captured Silver Winged Family members.

"Oh, you have some complaints about me sitting here?" Shen Yue asked provocatively. Even if he promised himself not to act out another two-bit play, it was hard not to follow the prompts.

"You dare! Human trash, that seat is only for the glorious Silver Winged people!" Called out one of the nobles, earning himself a beating after the nod Shen Yue gave his warrior.

"I fail to see why such a nice chair should be for slaves! Much more appropriate for the master to sit here, no?" He replied, kicking himself mentally for sounding like a stereotype villain.

"The Silver Winged Family are nobodies slaves! We are the rulers of the sky! Above all other Families, we are the true rulers of this realm, all races live to be our slaves!" Shouted Sikong Yi, trying to throw off his guards, finally having enough of kneeling and being insulted.

Unfortunately, they were demon spiritualists and ready for him, and after a short beating, he was laying on the floor with a booted foot on his face. There could be no more of an insult than to have a peoples ruler underfoot.

"It certainly doesn't look like it, you look like the king of nothing as you lay there with one of my men's boot on your face, prostrating to a ten-year-old human child. I fail to see your superiority, slave!" Shen Yue said mockingly, it was too easy to speak the words a despot would say when sitting on a throne belittling the former ruler.

"There is a saying I once read; those that live by the sword, die by the sword! Your people have treated others as slaves because you had superior might and thought it your privilege. Now that I have come and have proven myself stronger than you, by your logic you must now become my slaves!"

"But you are weak! You are not even bronze rank!" Yelled out a fourteen-year-old girl, a young Sikong Hongyue.

"Why must everyone give me shit about that! I am waiting for an ultimate technique that will allow me to contract a demon spirit for all attributes! Seriously, just shut up about it!" Shen Yue has had this argument many times with his followers, and it had become a sore spot for him. After calming down from his rant and ignoring the weird looks he received, Shen Yue continued on with his plans for the angel-like beings.

"The agreement I have with Duan Jian, an innocent that has only known torture at your hands, Sikong Yi will be his do with as he pleases. Sikong Hongyue, you have the choice of being my maid and serving me, or being crippled and given to the soldiers as a camp follower. Know that you will be marked with an inscription to tell if you have thoughts of betrayal. The rest of you will also have a choice to make. Serve me, or the men will be slaves to work the mines and the women camp followers." Shen Yue was not gentle with a race that looked down on all others. To do so only invited treachery.

What followed really steeled Shen Yue's heart toward future conquests. With a population of nearly ten thousand, eighty percent of the nobles and sixty percent of the commoners had their cultivations crippled and sent to the mines or to an area designated for the women. He was not sure who would have a harder life.

After seeing they could not bluff the loyalty mark while the first ten to receive it were subsequently crippled when the seal stone turned red, they chose to hurl insults and threats as more than half their race was crippled and enslaved.

The ex-slaves were given the same choice with the majority choosing to join him and only a few accepting nothing but freedom. They were told that the entire realm would soon be under Shen Yue's control and to make their choice wisely, but it was no use.

After seeing the fate of the other women, Sikong Hongyue chose to take the maid position. Surprisingly the seal stone didn't turn red as he was expecting, it appeared that having the flaws of her race exposed and then humiliated by being branded like animals, really opened her eyes. Shen Yue was delighted, as the green-eyed beauty would make an excellent addition to his growing maid/protector team.

Two months later and the Silver Winged Family was no more, in its place was the Seraphim Clan, a vassal of the Nemesis Family. All techniques, equipment and life necessities were provided to them in exchange for their personal possessions. Like the Heavenly Fate Plateau, all they owned belonged to Shen Yue.

Over the next three years, Shen Yue would make periodic trips back to Glory City to keep up appearances and visit Ye Ziyun. She was really a little cutie, and with her mother alive, her personality was entirely different from the lonely, aloof character she was in the novel.

The rest of his time was spent conquering, looting and enslaving. Luckily, they had yet to encounter the Mysterious Old Man. He must have been content to sit back and watch as the Abyss Prison Realm was systematically being dismantled and turned into one kingdom under Shen Yue. It may have also been because he did not go to Kong Ming's monument, he did not want to give the old man a reason to appear.

As long as he stayed silent, this realm could now be named the Nemesis Abyss Realm!


	12. Chapter 12

It was two months until the new year class at the Holy Orchid Institute starts, and Shen Yue was beside himself with anticipation. He did not need to attend as the school could do nothing for him, but he would need to keep up appearances.

Shen Xiu had once again been selected as the teacher, although her motives had probably changed. Every time they met, she would give him an anguished look, and then a sad smile, letting him guess she was being threatened. He had once asked her to join his new Family, but she had told him the Sacred Family would kill them if she did. After a fierce hug, she had avoided him from then on.

The Ten Millennium Spatial Array had been modified to only deactivate the barrier when a keystone that Shen Yue created was present. He had made two of these, one for Duan Jian his commander in the abyss realm, and the other for himself. This effectively sealed off any attempts to enter or destroy the array, from either side, without a keystone.

The Conquest of the Abyss had been completed six months ago with only a few 'rebels' left running around the wilderness with demon beasts. There had been no known account of someone starving to death since his complete take over of the realm.

Well, maybe one of the rebels may have, but they were not his problem. Shen Yue didn't even bother to hunt them down as the lowest rank guard defending his towns were gold rank, much higher than anything the rebels could muster with their non-existent resources.

The most time-consuming thing was reconstructing the Families into his Vassals and retraining their soldiers. The Heavenly Fate Plateau had taken a month with its population of a few thousand. The Nemesis Abyss Realm had nearly two hundred thousand inhabitants, and after three years, Shen Yue was finally happy with the progress made.

\- All the warriors were branded.

\- All the top beauties recruited into the maid guard.

\- All technique manuals, treasures, equipment and wealth secured.

\- Slaves crippled and mining Dragon Soul Stones and Blood Crystals.

\- Project 'Re-population/Reward for his soldiers' was proceeding smoothly.

\- Farms were set up, so each village was self-sufficient.

Because everyone was subdued and no longer contending for resources, it was easy to set up essential infrastructure. Preparing the fields to be tilled, and ready to produce food native to the realm, was the next step. With Shen Yue providing food produced from his Family's farms, his new citizens were well fed.

Basically, he had set up a medieval kingdom, where Shen Yue owned all the land. The currency he paid his subjects with, was food, and until recently a rare resource. The people unmarked with his loyalty inscription were considered serfs and had little to no cultivation. The system worked well, and with supervisors in each settlement, no major incidents occurred.

The Sparkling Flying Knife Set and Blizzard Spiritual Gem were acquired in the trade town without difficulty and were kept in his ring. Old Man Niu was happy to hand over his family treasure to the man saving them from starvation, the Divine Flames Family not so much. With so many manuals from a predominantly Fighter orientated realm, Shen Yue had compiled himself a body tempering book.

Practising it for a month, he had already reached the 2-star silver rank as a fighter. But Shen Yue was not in a hurry to train his physical body, as the only exercise that he enjoyed doing involved Su Mei. Nie Li's technique can nurture his soul and physical body concurrently, so in a couple of months, it wouldn't matter.

But none of this even compared to the situation he now found himself in. Ye Ziyun had gotten the idea to lay claim to Glory City's most sought after groom, and laced his drink with Enchanting Passion Powder, an aphrodisiac potion. However, there were two problems with this. One, she used three times the standard dose, and two, Su Mei saw her and swapped the glasses.

He was now staring at blushing, panting, sexually aroused thirteen-year-old, with assets belonging to a fully matured women. The three appearance perks chosen by the woman from Earth had transformed Ye Ziyun into a world-destroying beauty. Su Mei laughing in the background didn't help the situation either.

He had noticed Su Mei had been developing into a bit of a dominatrix. Shen Yue had been quick to put a stop to that, but the women she had brought to his bed had taken the full brunt of it. The maids had been specially trained by Su Mei, and all started to address her 'Mistress'. This along with her antics in the bedroom had confirmed his suspicions of her being a major 'S'.

With a sadistic housemaid, a lustful princess, and his enraged Minotaur's horn, Shen Yue couldn't care less about age or consequences as he gave in to Ye Ziyun's desperate need for sexual gratification.

( Minotaur's horn= watch?v=OivWJoCejFw )

It was much later that Shen Yue had his maids escort a very tired, sore, but happy Ye Ziyun home. After the potion wore off, Ye Ziyun already had more sexual experience than most middle-aged couples. Su Mei was doing her best to train another 'maid', and Shen Yue was quite happy to reap the benefits. Being as gentle as they could, it was still impossible to not injure Ye Ziyun, in her enthusiasm to impale herself on the 'D'.

Thankfully, this world had elixirs that could heal superficial damage instantly, as it took four hours for the Enchanting Passion Powder to wear off. After Ye Ziyun collapsed in a heap of bodily fluids, she was very embarrassed and humbled, confessing her concern that Shen Yue neglect her once they started at the academy.

It seemed that Xiao Ning'er and Ye Ziyun's relationship had gone the same way as canon after Xiao Ning'er was once again engaged to Shen Fei. Even with her mother as a positive influence, she still had abandonment issues from losing her best friend.

Shen Yue capitalised on this, and claimed that she was now his woman! With full memory of the things she did in the bedroom, Ye Ziyun could only smile and nod, her plan a success even with the slight alteration. Imploring her to keep their bedroom antics a secret, their relationship intensified with her coming over at every available chance or with trips to the marketplace.

It was on one such outing, two weeks before school started, that they encountered Xiao Ning'er. Shen Yue noticed her wince at Ye Ziyun's unwelcomed embrace and remembered her arctic disease.

"Xiao Ning'er, I noticed you seem to be in pain, are you ok?" Shen you asked, a devious plan developing.

"I'm fine, just sore from training." She replied blushing, was his

bishōnen perk doing the leg work for him?

Before she could say anything, Shen Yue grabbed her slender wrist pretending to check her pulse. After a minute of holding her wrist and feeling the heat radiating off her gorgeous face, he gave her the bad news.

"Have you been training at night?" receiving a small nod, he then listed out the symptoms his library had just compiled for him, including the consequences.

Dismayed and frightened she began to cry, with Ye Ziyun hugging her and trying to comfort her. Looking around and seeing the beginnings of rumours developing, he assured everyone that all was well and ushered the girls back to his mansion.

Once safely seated in his entertaining area, it was as if a dam burst and Xiao Ning'er ranted about her woes. Shen Yue was surprised his name came up when comparing him to Shen Fei and Ye Ziyun to herself. It seems she was jealous of Ye Ziyun and her perfect life and future husband. This was going to be too easy.

"Ning'er, there is no need to cry, there are several ways to cure the arctic disease. I know of two ways to treat you. The Daoyin Technique, used in conjuncture with the consumption of medicine made from combining Golden Striped Grass with Imperial Sky Grass. But unfortunately, I don't know this technique, maybe one of your elders would know." Shen Yue stopped to let her take the bait.

With teary eyes, she looked at him with a hopeful gaze. "What is the other way?"

"This... There is a technique that can only be used between a man and his wife, the exchanging of yin and yang. A potion is taken during the ritual, that will heat the blood, helping to expel the chilled air from your body. Afterwards, there is a simple acupuncture treatment to release the pressure on the meridians. You see why I didn't mention it, it would be better for you to seek help from your elders first." Said Shen Yue, slightly embarrassed at tricking this young beauty.

Hearing this caused Xiao Ning'er to overheat and strangely enough Ye Ziyun to look excited. Shen Yue couldn't deal with the atmosphere and gave her a chance to escape his perverted plans by sending her off with Ye Ziyun to think on her options. Four days later she returned Ye Ziyun returned with a shy Xiao Ning'er.

"The elders of my Family have never heard of the Daoyin Technique. Ziyun said she wants me to take the second option and become your wife with her. But I'm engaged to Shen Fei, the Sacred Family would never let me go!" She cutely voiced out her choice, blushing furiously, the entire time.

"If Ye Ziyun has agreed, then I would love to have another beautiful wife. The Sacred Family are trash, you don't have to fear them, I have already clashed with them a few times, with my Family prevailing in the end." Said Shen Yue, reassuring her.

After sending out Su Mei for supplies, Shen Yue made a modified version of the Enchanting Passion Powder, toning down the physical need for sex and instead heightening the sense of pleasure. With his 'special ritual potion,' they were ready for the ceremony.

The following 'ritual' was what he imagined his first time with Ye Ziyun would have been like, if she did not overdose herself on an aphrodisiac. It was a sensual deflowering, with a simple acupuncture procedure afterwards. It ended up a bit of a group effort when Su Mei's tendencies came out, and it turned into more of a training session.

Shen Yue was happy to have obtained two loving wives, even if they were admiring his maid a bit too much. He would have to keep an eye on this and make sure Su Mei didn't turn them into submissives. He wanted loyal women at his side that could lead, not more maids.


	13. Chapter 13

Today was the day he had been anticipating for over thirteen years, the day Nie Li gains his future self's memories. Why was he waiting? It was to pillage his mind for the millions of books he had read, and the cheatiest book to ever be created, the Temporal Demon Spirit Book.

Shen Yue had also set other plans in motion. Two hundred of his legend rank soldiers had been dispatched to loot the Dark Ruins, a high-level ruin containing the Nightmare Demon Pot. Honestly, he should have retrieved it long before now, but he had been sidetracked in conquering the Abyss realm.

He had also put a contingency in place to save Ye Ziyun's soul. But the bronze bird-like monstrosity from the novel was not fit to house his first wife's soul. Using the soul puppet blueprint he had stolen from the Heavenly Marks Family as a reference, he created a lifelike bird of prey.

Using high-grade materials, Shen Yue's personal smith laboured for days to create a masterpiece. With a sleek, pure black body, lavender eyes, extendable razor sharp claws and a beak that could pierce black-gold armour, she was as beautiful as she was dangerous.

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough souls techniques to allow her soul to grow, he would need to see what knowledge Nie Li had. If Ye Ziyun could form a fate soul after absorbing heavenly energy, her body would be able to restore itself. But that was for the future, for now, he just had to save her soul.

Asking her to come to his mansion two hours before school, he then proceeded to abuse her body, using the 'D' at full force. Satisfied she will be walking funny for a day or two, Shen Yue knocked her out with a drink prepared for after their lovemaking.

Su Mei arrived with the soul puppet, he needed her superior cultivation to link it to Ye Ziyun's soul. He only needed to activate the inscription, and it would forcefully suck her branded soul into the puppet. He also made it dormant once the transfer was complete, as he didn't need her flying around in a panic.

Su Mei had been thoroughly reprimanded for trying to 'train' his future wives. Shen Yue explained that while she could have her fun, they were to be future leaders of his empire and he did not want them as submissive slaves. Su Mei had apologised profusely and had explained she did not mean anything by it, she just liked to 'play'! He made a solemn vow to himself, to never introduce her to leather or whips in the future.

After doing all he could to save Ziyun, and to give the body stealer a surprise, they were off to start the long-awaited day of school. Taking a seat at the back of the classroom, where he would draw the least attention, Shen Yue waved to his little aunt. He would have to do something about her soon, maybe just kidnap her and hide her away when the Sacred Family collapsed.

Shortly after class started, Shen Yue felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Ye Ziyun sleepily closed her eyes while laying her head down on the table. Without a moment to lose, Shen Yue released the soul puppet under the table and activated the inscription.

With a brief flash of light, the original Ye Ziyun was now residing in a mechanical death bird. When everyone in the class turned around to see where the light came from, Shen Yue put on a worried face and gently shook Ye Ziyun's shoulder.

"Ye Ziyun, are you ok? What was that light?"

"Uh, where am I?" Waking fully, the women looked up to find a beautiful pre-teen, with long blue-black hair pulled into a high ponytail. He was gently shaking her with a concerned look on his perfect face. She looked around and noticed the entire class watching her.

"OMG! The god actually did it! I'm in the Demons and Gods World! Was Shen Yue always this attractive? He could nearly pass as a girl! Ouch, shit why do my privates hurt? Oh that bastard god! He left the damage he did when I slept with him! Damn him, my arse is leaking! Ok, ok focus, you can do this!"

Within a second, the new soul that had arrived ordered her thoughts, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling from her abused orifices and replied to the questions directed at her by Shen Yue.

"I'm fine, I must have fallen asleep." The new Ye Ziyun replied.

"Are you sure? There was a flash of light, maybe we should have a doctor examine you to be safe." A concerned Shen Xiu asked, having the City Lord's daughter injured in her class would be political suicide.

"I'm fine, teacher Shen Xiu, honest, please continue your lecture." She replied trying to direct attention elsewhere. As soon as everyone faced the front again, a blue screen only she could see, appeared in front of her.

[ Congratulations! You have agreed to be reincarnated into the world of Tales of Demons and Gods created by Alastor, your new God! As per the deal, you agreed to when renouncing your previous faith and/or allegiance, you have been given the following perks.

Ye Ziyun – One of the students in the fighter apprentice class with Nie Li. She is a member of the most powerful Family in Glory City, Snow Wind Family. Her grandfather is the legend rank demon spiritualist Ye Mo, and her father, Ye Zong, is the current City Lord.

The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal Pendant / System – A soul-bound pendant containing a realm only accessible to the owner. No other human beings are allowed entry unless they are already dead. (Or have, a spiritual connection to the owner.) Time flows at a rate of 100:1 in the realm compared to the outside world. The landscape of this realm has a circumference of roughly a 33,000 Square Meters, every increase of the level of this Realm will increase the size of space available. (To receive, pray to God.)

Interspatial Ring (500sqm) – A soul-bound ring able to change shape and camouflage. (To receive, pray to God.)

Bishoujo – A young woman whose beauty (and sexual appeal) transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation.

Boobs – Your breasts have been shaped by God! They are full, round and pert, men will not be able to look you in the eyes.

Dat Ass! – Your posterior is shapely, taut, firm, plump and yet still compacted into an aesthetically appealing package. It is perfect!

You are not permitted to kill the opposition, disclose information about future events or information concerning your mission to amuse your new God! All attempts will be physically impossible thanks to the restrictions placed on you when you agreed to serve your God, Alastor. Continue to amuse Him for better endgame reward. ]

"Yes! All my perks are there, I must say this body is gorgeous! Not being able to kill that immature little prick will make things difficult, but as long as I am with Nie Li, I will be fine. First I will have to distance myself from Shen Yue, what a pity, he is too cute! But his family is so totally going down." Ye Ziyun thought to herself. Now that she was in this perfect body, she had to get used to calling herself that.

Without even realising her thoughts on murdering another human being, the woman from earth started planning her future.

Shen Yue could practically see the wheels turning in her head when she looked at him with an appreciative eye. She was going to distance herself from him to make room for Nie Li. Although he knew this was coming, it hit him right in the feels to see such a look on his Ziyun's face.

He laughed in his mind when he saw her wince and try to wiggle her perfect bum into a comfortable position, his Ziyun had been peeved at the damage he had done to her posterior. Now all he had to do was lay low and wait. He would take his cues from Nie Li and Ye Ziyun to throw suspicion to the 'mask man' for the changes to the timeline.

Although he had changed drastically, it could be explained away with his ability not being used in the alternate timeline. It was thin, but workable, especially with an unknown masked guy running around drawing attention.

"For the next two years, all of you are my students. Although the principal mentioned that Holy Orchid Institute's students are equal, I have to let you know the ugly truth. In this world, equality doesn't exist!" Shen Xiu told the class the cold, hard truth. The rest of her speech was pretty much the same as the one in the canon, except for one amendment.

"The only way you can rise above your station is with the backing of a superior faction or a miraculous encounter. It's impossible for you to become an aristocratic family, so do not dream of rising up to become a phoenix. Even within the nobility, they have a strict difference of levels that can never be exceeded." She concluded her speech, to the dissatisfaction of Nie Li.

He ridiculed her as he did in the novel, about there being other human settlements and Ye Mo's rise to power. To Shen Yue's ears, he sounded like an arrogant little shit. Even though he didn't want to draw attention, he still had to stick up for his little aunt! Just as she was about to give a half-hearted rebuttal, he stood up.

"I also have a question, Nie Li, does Glory City have trade relations with any other human settlement?" Shen Yue asked with a glare towards the little ginger.

"No." Before Nie Li could speak further, Shen Yue once again spoke out with a cold, hard voice.

"Oh? So outside this 'well' are other human settlements that your Family knows about, but has not deigned to trade with or inform the City Lord? Does your Family think itself above isolated communities that you have no need to offer help or trade?" Shen Yue tried to heap as much scorn as he could on the arrogant little shit.

Suddenly everyone was looking at Nie Li, they had not heard of these places, but his Family had? Why didn't they trade with them? Shen Xiu was smiling proudly at her cute little nephew. Before Nie Li could pull an answer out of his arse, he was bombarded with another question.

"You mentioned Ye Mo, that commoners can rise above their station as he did, but do you know his soul realm? Ye Ziyun told me, it was the same as hers, the rare cyan realm that only geniuses have. I second my aunt's opinion. Without help or a miracle, with low-level innate talent, people will struggle with their cultivation." After Shen Yue delivered his speech imperiously, he sat down, giving his aunt a nod and a small smile.

Nie Li was stunned, so was the rest of the class. They had all heard of Shen Yue recruiting from the commoner families, he even built his mansion there! What he said was reasonable, the only person to rise to a noble from a commoner had genius talent, they needed a backer! Instead of looking towards Nie Li with appreciative expressions like they did in the novel, they now had their gazes glued to Shen Yue with sparkles shining in their eyes.

Nie Li was dumbfounded, he tried to uplift the spirits of the commoners, but now they were searching for backers to support them in their cultivation. It was what he was going to offer them after class!

"Nie Li, what a good Heavenly Marks Family. Hiding knowledge of other human settlements, when we are all on the same side in the fight to survive against demon beasts! The City Lord will hear about this! Go stand at the back of the class and face the wall, I don't want to see your face, you traitor." Shen Xiu really finished him off, Shen Yue felt like yelling out "Fatality!"

Instead of being joined at the back of the classroom by the other commoners, Nie Li was alone in his humiliation. Ye Ziyun ground her teeth in irritation and scowled at Shen Yue, she had planned to stand with Nie Li and join his group early. Now she had to look like a fool as she stood next to him. Was Shen Yue the other reincarnator?

"Ye Ziyun, what are you doing?" Shen Yue called out as she stood up.

Once again the entire class's focus was on her. "I think what Nie Li said was correct, commoners can rise up by their own power and achieve their dreams, to put them down is to stunt their growth!" She really was a good speaker, mitigating some of the negative thoughts being directed at Nie Li.

"I don't think you have thought this through, most families have already bankrupted themselves to just sent their children to school. Where are they going to get the demon spirit coins for cultivation resources? Are you sure you are ok?" Said Shen Yue, with a worried look at her. His acting skill was getting a workout.

She really didn't know what to say to this, she just wanted a reason to talk to Nie Li early! Now she had started down this path, she could only continue. "We as nobles don't know the suffering the less fortunate families have to go through, how can you just casually disregard their futures? Just because your Sacred Family is rich, you think you can just treat commoners like trash?" With little else to argue about she could only try to discredit Shen Yue, this was really not going how she planned.

"You are starting to worry me Ziyun, let's get you to a doctor." Replied Shen Yue in a calm but worried voice. He was trying to play the perfect, concerned fiance, but internally he was laughing at her stupidity, he wanted nothing more than to slap the crazy bitch.

"I don't know why my father even agreed to the marriage proposal, I don't like you! Never call my name again, we are not that close!" Making the most of this failed venture, she severed the relationship between her and Shen Yue, paving the way for Nie Li.

Nie Li was on top of the world, his Ziyun had just trashed Shen Yue! There was no chance of them getting married now! He would make his move now and together they would save Glory City!

"Ye Ziyun, let's leave this class. This trash teacher that attacks commoners and the spoiled nephew that helps her, we don't need to stay here any longer." Nie Li said walking over to Yi Ziyun and offering his hand. Taking it with a smile, they walked out the door hand in hand.

Both of them misread the stupefied looks they received as looks of shock at their verbal attacks toward the teacher. They did not understand that they had just slandered the most sought after genius in the city. And what was with associating Shen Yue with the Sacred Family? Everyone knew the story of the 'Runaway Prince'.

If Nie Li and Ye Ziyun had not been embarrassingly caught off guard, they would have noticed how unbelievable the situation had been. A destitute Aristocrat with terrible future prospects, and the Princess of the City, suddenly holding hands and walking out in front of her rich and publically-loved fiance? A sudden flash of light and two complete changes in personality? Inconceivable!

Unfortunately, both of them had got what they wanted, blinding them to reality. Nie Li, the three-hundred-year-old pedophile, was blinded by his worship of Ye Ziyun, and the new Ye Ziyun wanted to grab hold of the man with overpowered skills and plot armour.

With no more interruptions, the class ended peacefully. Shen Yue waited until everyone left the room. Shen Xiu wanted to say something, but he shook his head indicating they would speak later. That left only a puzzled and slightly hysterical Xiao Ning'er.

"What happen Shen Yue? Why was sister Ye Ziyun acting like that? I wanted to say something, but you said to keep our relationship secret!"

"You did well Ning'er, I could barely contain the rage I felt myself. That is not our Ziyun. I felt a sudden chill, and it caused me to look at Ziyun. What I saw was terrifying! Whoever that was, had just taken over Ziyun's body, had expelled her soul and it was dissipating! Luckily I had been experimenting with soul puppets." Shen Yue bullshitted.

He then brought out the soul puppet from under his desk, explaining the flash of light and what he had done to save her. Shen Yue placed Ziyun into a backpack, as he did not want to risk something happening to her if she was put into his interspatial ring. He gave Xiao Ning'er the mission of getting it back to his mansion, as he had something else to do.

Meeting Su Mei at the school gate he had a wicked smile on his face, it was time to hunt!


	14. Chapter 14

Shen Yue was with Mei in a tea shop, currently waiting for updates on Nie Li and Ye Ziyun. He had her organise a tail for both of them, and although she had given him a weird look, she had followed his directions flawlessly.

He was rethinking his plans concerning the little ginger, seeing him rebuking his aunt had really pushed his buttons. Ye Ziyun had also not endeared herself with her foolhardy actions.

She had failed to pump God for information, even Shen Yue regretted not asking more questions. She obviously didn't think the storyline was different from canon, with her Sacred Family remarks.

"What if I just kill the wranga, and shove Ye Ziyun's soul into a puppet?" As soon as he thought this, a blue screen he had not seen since birth appeared in front of him!

[ Congratulations! You have drawn the attention of your God! With the emergence of your competitor, there will inevitably be conflict! With your foresight to reincarnate earlier and obvious stronger power base, Alastor has decided to deny some of your harsher plans of action.

Since your God has awarded her with Ye Ziyun's body for 2000 points, it will forever remain her body. You will not be able to replace her with the original's soul, Alastor was already benevolent enough to allow you to save it!

She has chosen Nie Li's faction as her power base, where you decided to create your own. Know that your god is pleased, but finds your intention to destroy him or enslave him as boring. How will you be able to amuse your God merely competing against a naive young girl?

As a result of a slight oversight in abruptly inserting the contestant without climatising her to the original Ye Ziyun's memories, Alastor has tweaked the world to make it impossible to believe she has been replaced. She will just be another moody teenager, prone to changing her mind. The only exception will be your inner circle subordinates.

As a reward for your highly entertaining actions already taken against your opponent, and compensation for not allowing your quite sensible response of killing future problems in the cradle, you receive a perk!

Cat-like Eyes- Cats have very high-speed eyes. They can see at approximately 100 frames per second where humans see about 20 fps.

Your night vision also improves. Slitted pupils are optional!

( Locked until cultivation can control the influx of information - Gold Rank )

Your God is pleased, keep up the good work! ]

Shen Yue's jaw was almost touching the floor in shock. Alastor was reading his thoughts! But that didn't really bother him as he had already admitted to the ability when they first met. What annoyed him was the fact that he couldn't follow through with his plans! At least he got a perk out of it, it will be very beneficial once he starts fighting.

He would have to fall back to his non - aggression plan with a few twists! He wouldn't make it easy for them, they had already blundered by such a radical personality switch. If he couldn't kill them physically, he would destroy their community sentiment, propaganda was a powerful weapon. Just as he drank the last of his tea, Su Mei received the signal they had been waiting for.

After leaving the classroom, Nie Li and Ye Ziyun had gone to the library to discuss their next move. With Ye Ziyun's backing, they would have no need to hunt sheep, but they still needed a place to train. Two hours later, they were in the middle of the schools training forest utilising their new techniques to absorb the energy from heaven and earth.

So absorbed in their training and trusting the countermeasure installed for demon beasts, they did not even react when two experts knocked them out. The experts quickly secured their targets and sent the signal to their leader.

Shen Yue walked into the clearing with a smile like that of a cat that ate the canary. The treasure that was Nie Li before him, ready to be plundered, he could barely contain his excitement. With a hand trembling in expectation, he reached out and placed it on Nie Lis head.

Just like the other instances he used this ability, a small, transparent, loading icon with a timer counting down from sixty minutes appeared. It was a long wait, and he knew God did it just to mess with him, but he had gained a lot of experience in waiting. With his men securing the area and Su Mei making sure his victims remained unconscious, there were no interruptions.

Finally, the timer released a chime sound only he could hear and his library expanded by more than fifteen times. Just over three million books had appeared on shelves creating an almost oppressive aura of wisdom.

If Nie Li comprehended all these books, then he clearly held the rest of the world in contempt for their ignorance. Maybe that was why he barely helped them, only ensuring their survival and heading off to greener pastures.

Now for the pièce de résistance! Using his pillage skill for the first time, he moved his hand to Nie Li's stomach and activated it. Unlike his library skill, his pillage ability caused a pulsing, bright pink glow. He had forgotten his God's favourite technique, Troll no Jutsu! An hour of brilliant pink pulses later and Shen Yue was cheering when it ended.

Unfortunately, instead of the Temporal Demon Spirit Book that he was expecting, he was holding a seed the size of his thumbnail. The little green seed was covered in unknown golden inscription patterns, that is until his cheat library activated.

[ Temporal Destiny Seed of Creation,

A seed created with the death of Nie Li. When receiving the attacks of the Sage-Emporer, the Temporal Demon Spirit Book was destroyed. By using his soul, flesh and blood as a fuel source and catalyst, the book activated an unknown defence mechanism creating a path to salvation. Sentient and constantly seeking its master.

Flaws and Abilities unknown! ]

Holy shit! His library couldn't read it! Could God be nerfing him? Although it was not the amalgamation of the knowledge in the entire universe, it was still a respectable second place prize. Examining Nie Li again with his pillage skill just in case, it came up negative, that left Ye Ziyun. Two hours later and he had another soul-bound ring, an overpowered pendant and an overdose on the colour pink.

Since he couldn't kill them, then he could only humiliate them enough for them to wish for death. Stripping Ye Ziyun's clothes, he then re-enacted his morning performance, not needing to hold back in fear of hurting her this time. He even used her mouth vigorously, depositing his manly essence over her face. No fucks were given as he threw his Earthly morals on the floor and proceeded to spit on them.

Su Mei had stripped Nie Li and was waiting for Shen Yue to work out his frustrations, he had been acting oddly ever since she met him at the school gate. She was confused by today's events, be it him standing over Nie Li for an hour or his pulsing pink ability. She would ask him what was going on when they returned home, as for now, they had a job to do. She did not know the reason for suddenly humiliating Ye Ziyun, as she quite liked the girl, but she wholeheartedly agreed with the method.

After Shen Yue was dressed, he gave Su Mei a nod to continue with the plan. She signalled to one of the maids waiting nearby, watching as she disappeared towards the school. Her mission was to anonymously let the authorities know that the City Lord's daughter had not returned to school, after venturing into the training grounds alone with a boy.

The scene was tidied up, and all traces of their group were removed. Although Shen Yue didn't want to touch Nie Li's junk, he used some of his newfound acupuncture knowledge to over stimulate the meridians responsible for his manhood. Coupled with the modified aphrodisiac Nie Li and Ye Ziyun were force-fed, he would be a one-hit wonder, turning him impotent.

Job done, they disappeared, heading home incognito so as not to come under suspicion. A maid was left behind to wake them just before they were found and to report the details of the success. Maybe the girl from Earth was right when she called him immature, but damn it felt good to get his revenge!

His library had compiled a book on her when he touched her. Shen Yue wondered how she would feel when she found out she was eating for two? If Nie Li found out, then after today he would believe it his and force her to carry it to term! Of course, Shen Yue would be taking the child, it was his and the original Ziyun's after all. He couldn't stop smiling when thinking about it, making him feel like a cuckoo bird.

He really had changed, today's acts would have never entered his mind when he was on Earth. But after his three years in the Abyss realm, his morality had been destroyed and rebuilt to survive this harsh universe. Watching people starve or fight to the death over a piece of mouldy bread he would never dream of eating, had changed his outlook on life. And that wasn't even touching on all the other messed up shit he had seen.

The number of people that would happily smile and swear allegiance, only for the seal stone to turn red, was in the thousands. Before his subjugation of the Abyss realm, he had started to think that maybe he had gone overboard with the whole slavery thing. Now he would put a loyalty mark on his own mother if he knew who she was and he would not even blink at killing his father, Shen Hong.

No, he had changed, but he didn't really care. The only person that could judge him, with Earth's morals or laws, had just been raped and all her valuable possessions stolen. He had come to this world with the intention to satisfy all his desires, accepting that his personality may change. It was her that clung to the belief that she would persist in upholding the moralistic high ground. He would like to see if she still does so after a year or two. He wasn't still salty at her comments on that fan-fiction, not at all...

As he noticed the emotional wreck that was Xiao Ning'er, still clinging to the puppet, he reaffirmed his new motto. Wealth and love to his people, destruction and pain to his enemies.

"Shen Yue, where were you? What are we going to do about Ziyun?" Xiao Ning'er called out with emotion, tears in her eyes. She had been waiting in his mansion clutching the soul puppet for five hours, it was quite understandable for her to be anxiousness. Su Mei was listening attentively, she also had many questions.

Shen Yue wished he could just lay the blame at God's feet and be done with it. Now he had to make up some bullshit reason why he couldn't just transfer Ziyun's soul back into her body.

"Su Mei, this puppet contains the soul of our Ziyun, the one controlling the body we just humiliated, is an imposter. The ability you saw me using is one I created to scan and remove a foreign object in one's soul. While examining her and Nie Li, there were a few inconsistencies. It looks like a Deity level expert is behind this mess, as when I was attempting to destroy their souls, I was contacted by him." Shen Yue bullshited, when in doubt blame a higher being for your troubles.

"Diety level expert?" Both Su Mei and Xiao Ning'er were confused at this unknown rank.

"It seems our world is governed by different laws than others. Here the highest rank we can achieve is a spiritual god, one for every law. The other ranks explained to me by this 'God' were like this." He then proceeded to draw a table of the different ranks.

\- Bronze - Each level is 100 soul force.

\- Silver - Each level is 1,000 soul force.

\- Gold - Each level is 10,000 soul force.

\- Black-Gold - Each level is 100,000 soul force.

\- Legend - Each level is 1,000,000 soul force.

All of these ranks have 5 levels/stars.

Spiritual Gods are only found in the Divine Continent. They are at most equivalent to a 1 - 3 Heavenly Fate rank.

\- Heavenly Fate - Each level is marked with the creation of a Fate Soul.

\- Heavenly Star - Formation of a Fate Star within the Fate Souls.

\- Heavenly Axis - Strengthening Fate Souls.

\- Dao of Dragon - Their nine Fate Souls condense to become one.

\- Martial Ancestor - The physical body rots away and unites with the spirit. This means that the soul and body are one and the same.

All of these ranks have 9 levels/stages.

The Diety refused to say more on the final ranks, only listing them.

\- Deity

\- Emperor

\- Supreme

Su Mei and Xiao Ning'er were shocked. Especially, Su Mei, she thought that she stood at the top of the food chain, now it was revealed she had only qualified to take the first step on the path of cultivation.

"Why did this Diety allow us to humiliate and steal their soul items?" Asked Su Mei, annoyingly pointing out holes in his story.

"He said it would strengthen their temperament and resolve to cultivate if they received setbacks. Honestly, I have no idea what the Deity is planning, only that He allowed me to have my revenge and that I was not allowed to kill them. He said he had already allowed me to save Ziyun's soul so not to go too far, your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that we are allowed to harass Nie Li and the imposter but not kill them." Said Shen Yue, he was really clutching at straws for a decent reason for not destroying them.

After throwing enough bullshit at them to keeps them 'happy' with his excuses, it was time to wake up the mechanical bird of death, know affectionately as his wife.


	15. Chapter 15

Waking the sleeping beauty went about as well as you could expect. After a lot of crying (if a flying death machine could produce tears), yelling, and destroying the entertaining room they were in, Ziyun had finally calmed down. They had updated her on the situation and their inability to do anything but humiliate the body snatchers.

Shen Yue had also explained that it was likely that Nie Li was also a body thief, as the techniques they were training and soul items he pillaged, were not of this world. He also instructed his women that they were to throw attention towards Su Qiang as the masked owner of the three dominant powers in Glory City. Shen Yue must not be outed as the real master, or they will come looking for their items and revenge. The Deity would not protect them as He did 'Nie Li' and 'Ye Ziyun'.

"The Diety made it sound like some sort of training or game. The fact that I was able to handicap them, without the Deity outing me, proves He only cares about the end result, whatever that is. I think He is using us like a whetstone to sharpen and train them, but as long as we don't go too far, we can have our revenge. We just have to be creative about it." Shen Yue explained, doing his best to get them thinking in the right direction.

"But what about my body? Surely my parents will realise something is wrong?" Reasoned Ziyun.

"I'm afraid not, the Deity said he tweaked this world, so everyone but us will believe nothing is wrong. That 'Ye Ziyun' is just a moody teenager, prone to changing her mind! But we will still try to prove it. The question is though, what to do if we can't? How far should we act on the families that the imposters inhabit?" Announced Shen Yue, already a plan formulating.

"Hmph, if they don't see me as Family then they can expect the same!" Ziyun pouted cutely, well as much as an automaton created purely for destruction could.

"Now Ziyun, remember that it is the fault of the Deity. To be able to extinguish souls and alter an entire City's thoughts is not really something we can fight. Your parents are victims too." Shen Yue tried to comfort her.

"Well, they can forgive me when they realise I am their real daughter. I'm not going to let that bitch use my money and resources!" She argued, it seems having your body stolen diminishes your mercy.

"Ok, so politically we will move against the Snow Wind and Heavenly Marks Families, but will not kill them off. Ziyun, if we can't prove your situation, then you will have to hide, as Soul Puppets are seen as an evil practice. I think you should help Su Qiang with the Brotherhood until we can get your body back." Before Ziyun could argue a maid came in.

"Young master, there is a party from the Winged Dragon Family here, they are being rather forceful in their requests for the return of Xiao Ning'er."

"Show them here, we will see if they need to be destroyed by their actions. Ziyun, hide in my bedroom until they leave, we can't have your existence leaked." Shen Yue ordered with a no-nonsense tone of voice.

Ning'er was shocked! She had just heard her Family's fate would be decided by Shen Yue! "Shen Yue, you can't destroy my Family, even if they are mostly trash, my father still cares for me!" Pleaded Ning'er.

"Don't worry Ning'er, I own fifty-five percent of the property your Family sold off a few years ago, their value has only increased with the upgrades they received. We can just have your father start a new clan with that property." Shen Yue threw out a domineering reply like it was a done deal, today had not left him in a forgiving mood.

Ning'er could only hope that the people from her Family acted with respect. As Ziyun flew out one door, the Winged Dragon group entered the other. Leading the group was Xiao Yi, the elder seeking to take the patriarch seat and driving force behind Ning'er's troubles.

"What are you doing out of school and in another man's house? Have you no shame? You are engaged to Shen Fei, not his brother!" Yelled the elder as soon as he laid eyes on Xiao Ning'er.

Shen Yue's face immediately darkened, and his eyes flashed with menace. "Whose house do you think you are in? You do not even greet the owner of the place you burst into?"

"You are just a child with money, if the City Lord didn't protect you, your 'Family' would have already yielded to the Sacred Family!" Xiao Yi sneered.

"Break his arms and legs. Then throw him out in the street, it seems the Winged Dragon Family want a war. If any resist, cripple their cultivation." Shen Yue did not bother dragging this farce out, disrespecting him in his own house was grounds for death, he was already being lenient.

Xiao Yi's guards only saw untrained servants when the maids moved to attack their master. Shen Yue's commands had already angered them, so they thought to show these girls their place. Sadly, their 'place' appeared to be standing over the crippled bodies of the Winged Dragon people.

Watching the group of idiots being dragged out the door, Shen Yue told Ning'er not to bother returning home. He then had Mei set in motion plans that would financially ruin the Winged Dragon Family.

Seeing this Xiao Ning'er could only sigh. After her Family had betrayed her with the engagement to Shen Fei, she had lost all respect for them. If not for her father, she would have left as soon as she had the strength to support herself anyway, now seemed as good a time as ever. She would have to write her father a letter, explaining that it was better to hand the Family over and join her here.

Twenty minutes later, the maid they had left behind to ensure the success of their plan returned. It went even better than Shen Yue had hoped. Waking Ye Ziyun first as she would have no resistance against the aphrodisiac had proven the correct choice

Nie Li had awakened to a naked and incredibly aroused Ye Ziyun grinding on him, kissing him as if trying to extract his soul. His own body was stimulated, and he could feel the effect of a powerful aphrodisiac. But having the woman he worshipped more than life itself inserting his manhood into herself and kissing him passionately, was all it took to erode his resistance to the drug.

When the search party from the school found them five minutes later, they found only a beast with two backs. They did not even react to the startled shouts of the school teachers and had to be knocked unconscious, their bodies covered in sinful fluids, hidden from the watching students.

An order to forget what they just witnessed was quickly issued. But seeing the children with broad smiles and sporting bulges in their pants, the teachers could only shake their heads, it was unlikely to happen. This was the worst scandal the Holy Orchid Institute had ever experienced, the Principle and City Lord would not be pleased.

Shen Yue, on the other hand, was cackling madly in glee! Nie Li didn't even get to finish! The poor bastard would only be able to look at Ye Ziyun and not touch!

Ziyun was not as impressed as he was, it was her body and reputation! She knew that Shen Yue had no hope of recovering her body, and that was why he made this plan, but it still infuriated her! Her reputation would be destroyed! Who would ever do such a thing with a red-headed farmer! She could only hope Shen Yue's assurances that she would have a new body turned out to be true.

"Mei, have this information spread in all our inns anonymously, and also put a positive spin on our reason for war with Ning'er's Family. Tomorrow I want the entire City talking about the impure jezebel and Ning'er the Saint, betrayed by her Family and joining the Runaway Prince." Said Shen Yue when he finally controlled his laughter.

"Of course young master." Su Mei dutifully replied.

Seeing Ziyun upset, he could only reassure her once again. Now that he had Nie Li's memories he would be able to upgrade her soul container, allowing her to absorb energy from heaven and earth to strengthen her soul.

It would be a completely different way to cultivate, but he was sure that armed with a massive amount of information to build off, his library could extrapolate a technique to nourish the soul, without the need of a body.

With today's matters finally settled, it was time to create some ultimate skills. Shen Yue mentally compiled a list of skills he would need.

\- Upgraded inscription for the soul container on Ziyun's puppet.

\- Ziyun's Soul Cultivation.

\- A slave inscription for inner circle members, linking them to his soul.

\- A central seal stone or focus to do away with thousands of individual stones. Also, subordinate seal stones connected to the primary seal that could monitor and add slaves.

\- A concealing technique for realm level and divination.

\- The ultimate cultivation technique he had spent thirteen years waiting for.

These six techniques would take the rest of the night to create. Shen Yue didn't aspire to simply assemble numerous defective manuals and compile a flawless cultivation manual.

No, he wanted to use enhanced manuals to form the ultimate technique. Shen Yue could not tolerate missing a crucial piece, that might possibly disrupt his cultivation at higher levels. He would also need it to be able to assimilate new techniques that will be discovered in different worlds.

The first option would still guarantee him a badass technique with less effort, but Shen Yue had tortured himself for thirteen years of waiting, he would not settle for anything less than ultimate!


	16. Chapter 16

Shen Yue decided to create the pure soul technique for his Ziyun first. He could only imagine the pain and turmoil she was going through losing her physical body and then seeing her reputation destroyed. His first wife was putting up a brave front, but he knew she was on the edge of a breakdown.

With that in mind, he spent the rest of the night upgrading all soul techniques and cultivation manuals suitable that he had acquired. With his library's time difference of 100:1, it was a notably exhausted Shen Yue that met up with his girls at breakfast. Fortunately, that would tie in with the act he would have to put on at school.

Not seeing Ziyun, he sent one of the many sexy maids that seemed to decorate his mansions, to find her. Halfway through his breakfast he couldn't help but smile when she arrived, the soul puppet really was a fearsome creation.

Even though Ziyun was only bronze rank in soul force, with the physical capabilities of the puppet, she would be able to fight evenly with a black-gold expert.

"Ziyun, I know that you are having a tough time with what has happened, so I spent all night to create this for you." Said Shen Yue, passing the technique over to a maid and ordering her to assist Ziyun's bird form to read it.

"With this technique, your soul will be able to accumulate qi and thereby strengthening it to similar levels as a normal cultivator. You will be unable to contract a demon beast or use special techniques, but if you can form a Fate Soul, your body will be able to reform!" Shen Yue informed her with a proud smile, he had put a lot of effort into this for his Waifu.

With an excited shout, she tied to embraced Shen Yue, forgetting her form was now a killing machine. Luckily Su Mei was on hand to restrain her so no harm could come of it. After a happy but awkward thank you, she rushed off with the maid assigned to her to start training. It had only taken Shen Yue ten minutes to change her soul anchor inscription to allow her to accumulate qi.

"Thank you, Shen Yue, sister Ziyun was very depressed. I'm not sure what she would have done if you had not helped her." Said Ning'er. Ziyun and her had become as close as sisters since the day he 'cured' her.

"My girls get nothing but my best efforts! I'm afraid that I will need your help today Ning'er. We need to show the City that you have joined my Family and that the betrayal of 'Ye Ziyun' has wounded me deeply. I will be using this heartbreak as an excuse to be absent from the Institute."

"Of course! We will make those imposters suffer!" A firey eyed Ning'er replied.

Shen Yue had better things to do than sit in a classroom being bored to death, even if he did get to stare at his hot aunt. He had only ticked off two items on the skills list, he needed to get back and finish them. The need to start cultivating had become almost tangible, comparable to a crack addict in need of a fix.

He put on a sad, desolate look as he made his way to the boarding school, only nobles had the privilege to go home. The looks the people of Glory City were giving him were mostly of pity, mixed with schadenfreude. Ye Ziyun was everyone's fantasy girl, and many people were jealous of Shen Yue for obtaining her. On the plus side, it made it incredibly easy to transform those feelings into hate toward Nie Li for defiling her.

Even though the scandal had happened late at night, the story had spread like wildfire, consuming the entire city in gossip. In comparison, his war with the Winged Dragon Family was seen as trivial. That suited Shen Yue fine as it was often toeing the line with the laws in a place like Glory City, the last known bastion of humanity. Anything that injured the City's power was policed heavily.

When he entered the classroom, Shen Yue was shocked to see Ye Ziyun and Nie Li sitting together in the front row. Quickly stamping down his initial reaction of cursing them, he kept quiet, waiting to see the punishment and stance of the school. He didn't want to be caught off guard without all the information.

When it was time for the class to start, Shen Xiu came in followed by the vice principal, Ye Sheng. Everyone immediately stopped talking.

"Last night an incident occurred in the training ground that our Holy Orchid Institute does not condone. All further mixed group training trips will be accompanied by a teacher." Said Ye Sheng, turning to leave.

"Was there no punishment?" Called out Shen Yue in disbelief, in this culture, such shameful behaviour would be punished heavily.

"Technically, there was no rule against this kind of behaviour, there is now." Said Ye Sheng matter of factly, he was a member of the Snow Wind Family and was displeased with Ye Ziyun's behaviour, it caused nothing but shame.

"In that case, I will be withdrawing from this school. Until yesterday I had thought Ye Ziyun loved me and that we were to be married after we finished studying to become demon spiritualists." Shen Yue said standing up, he always found it added to the face slapping when he could make grand physical gestures.

"This morning on my way to school I was asked if I rented the slut out to anyone with enough money! When I asked what they were talking about they informed me of this impure whore's actions! To be publically fornicating with a man she just met is the pinnacle of shame, and you just say that it wasn't in the rules? I noticed your surname is also Ye, is this the reason she is not expelled or do get some of the money?"

Shen Yue was having fun, employing his acting skills to the max, he was yelling and ranting, even drawing attention from other classes. Nie Li tried to protect the shreds of honour Ye Ziyun still had left, and jumped in before Ye Sheng could angrily refute his claims.

"We love each other, it shouldn't matter what two people in love do. Yesterday we were affected by something and just couldn't control ourselves, we have already confessed to the City Lord and are now betrothed! Who are you to enter into our business?" Replied Nie Li with his smug little smile. The little shit was trying to provoke him, no doubt to humiliate him with some plot. Too bad that's what Shen Yue wanted.

"Who am I? Who the fuck are you? I had not even heard of your shitty little Family until yesterday, but you can rest assured, my Nemesis Family now know you for the honorless snakes you are. I have known Ye Ziyun since we were six years old when I cured her mother! Since then we have played together and were happy, it is almost like you have used a soul technique on her to change her personality so much!" It was worth a shot to see if he really couldn't out the bitch as an imposter.

Ye Sheng was quick to refute this with a response he expected. "Nonsense, she just changed her mind!"

"What a 'good' change her mind, is this how harlots justify their actions now? If this is how much the Snow Wind Family's word amounts too, then my Nemesis Family has misjudged it badly! From this day forward know that these three Families, the Snow Wind, the Winged Dragon, and the Heavenly Marks Families are blacklisted, anyone that does business with them will become my enemy!"

Finished, Shen Yue was exhausted after that tirade and had used up what little energy he had left from a sleepless night. Of course, he didn't forget to spit on the ground in front of Ye Ziyun and sneer out 'slut' in disgust as he walked out.

Pushing his way through a dumbfounded crowd that had come to watch the show, he once again met Su Mei and two other maids at the school gate. He had told her he wouldn't be in school for long. With maids in trailing behind, he headed towards the Divine Family.

Shen Yue had altered his original plans for Glory City. He had planned for it to be separate from his empire and have it act like a trade partner or City-State. After Shen Yue subdued the rest of the world, it would become a vacation spot, used to reminisce. It only had sentimental value, he had enjoyed growing up here.

Now he was just going to conquer it. The Snow Wind Family really was doing a piss poor job of ruling. It was on the path to ruin until Nie Li, and his plot armour came along. He would give it to Su Qiang to rule, he had done a stellar job as Shen Yue's right-hand man.

Back in the classroom, Ye Sheng was frowning. When he was talking with Ye Zong this morning, they had been planning how to lessen the backlash from this incident. Both of them had forgotten the spurned ex-fiance! Ye Sheng left the classroom in a rush, Ye Zong would need to know about this!

Ye Ziyun was confused, totally embarrassed but also confused. Was Shen Yue the other reincarnator? He seemed genuinely upset when she had cut ties with him, and if he had read the novel, then he knew that it was suicide to go against Nie Li.

Remembering Nie Li she couldn't help but blush, not about the sex, although he really pounded her, she was still very sore even after all the elixirs. No, she was flustered about the thirty or so people that saw her covered in Nie Li's spunk!

She still had no idea what happened, one minute she was training, the next she was banging Nie Li as if her life depended on it! When the teachers came she couldn't care less that they were watching, she just needed to have Nie Li inside her! After waking up in a bed surrounded by angry people that she had found out the full story.

She and Nie Li had 'cooked the rice', and her parents were furious! Ye Ziyun was very surprised to find out that her mother was still alive and had received a slap when she demanded to know who she was to berate her!

Thankfully, she found out later from a blue screen, the world had been tweaked so she would not be outed as a fake. God didn't even compensate her, saying she was an idiot and had a good laugh!

When everyone left, after conveying how disappointed they were, Ye Ziyun had questioned her maid for information on the notable events of the last thirteen years. Without thinking it weird, the maid supplied her with the reason God was laughing at her.

Shen Yue had been the one to save her mother when he rebelled against his Family. He was practically a hero to the commoners and had even built his mansion there! She had thrown away the most eligible groom for a poor farmer. The weird look the class had given her made a bit more sense now, she thought they were just shocked at her outburst.

But they didn't know that Nie Li was the MC of the story. Soon he would be rich and recognised as the strongest in the city! But this different Shen Yue worried her, even if he currently had no cultivation, the maid was adamant this was correct, he could still be her opponent.

There were also suspicious companies that had not been in the canon, appearing suddenly five years ago. Everyone was sure this masked man was the owner of all of them, but there was no actual proof. But he had been seen multiple times and was definitely a full grown or middle aged.

She was really regretting not asking God more questions. As soon as she found out she would be reincarnated back on earth after this 'game', she had only asked when she would start in the timeline. God had let it slip after she had earned some extra points, that the immature harem deviant, would also be playing. She had laughed when God had assured her he couldn't 'earn' points as she did. Sisters are doin' it for themselves!

Now she wondered who he could be, Shen Yue seemed the obvious choice, but Nie Li assured her he was just a patsy. The arrogant child had most likely been used as a misdirect and his actions today had supported this belief. Who declares war against so many Families at the same time?

Whoever it was, they were going to regret it! They had stolen her soul-bound cheat items! She had an ultimate weapon in the form of Nie Li, and he would destroy anyone she wanted, all Ye Ziyun had to do was point her finger.

When she met up with him this morning, she had 'explained' how she remembered some of her past life, where they were a couple. He had been thrilled, and any doubts he had evaporated. He was now totally devoted to her.

She would use 'her' father to gain details on this masked man, while Nie Li would start his money making scheme using the Purple Haze Grass. It didn't matter if it was the masked man or Shen Yue, both would fall before Nie Li.


	17. Chapter 17

Shen Yue arrived at the Divine Family, and it seemed they were expecting his visit. Chen Zhenlong and all the elders were in attendance when he was shown into the great hall.

"Welcome Shen Yue, it has been too long." Said Chen Zhenlong.

"Uncle Zhenlong, it has indeed been too long. I had wished to come when I had broken through to bronze rank, to have a spar with brother Chen Linjian. But unfortunately, I have been humiliated and wish to know where my allies stand." Shen Yue got straight to the point.

He was pretty sure that Chen Zhenlong would be neutral at best and side with Ye Zong at worst. But he had a good opinion of the Divine Family and wished to give them a chance. As long as they stayed neutral, he would leave them alone.

"Yes, this came as a terrible shock, no one could have seen this coming. What is it you want to do?" Chen Zhenlong asked. He was not surprised the kid wanted revenge, they had all seen the fallout Shen Hong had received from angering the little devil. The whole city had laughed at the Sacred Family patriarch for throwing away a genius, Shen Fei's disappointing actions as a playboy, only made them laugh harder.

"That snake in the grass from the Heavenly Marks Family has already defiled the slut, so I want nothing to do with her. He can have the capricious whore. But the City Lord has blessed this marriage and spat on his honour and word, so I intend to dethrone Ye Zong. What I want from you, is to stop supplying pills to the Snow Wind Family, or at the very least charge them and their allies double the price." Shen Yue told them his plans.

If Shen Yue was using the supposed might of only the Nemesis Family, then the Divine Family will probably not support him. But Shen Yue planned to throw the cat among the pigeons. It was time to release the masked man. Seeing the looks of disbelief on the elders' faces he knew it would be the only way to succeed.

"Of course if it was only my Nemesis Family opposing the City Lord, I will certainly be crushed. But last night, I received a very unusual visitor. He happened to be masked and lead a group of strong brothers, have you perhaps heard of him? He seemed to think that a man that can not even honour his word is not a man to manage a City! What do you think?"

Now the Divine Family elders were wearing looks of shock! The masked man was finally making a move! For five years he could have crushed the entire City by himself, but had done nothing but secure the borders. What did this mean?

Chen Zhenlong sighed, his brother Ye Zong had really made a mess of things. What was he thinking making an enemy out of this little scamp? Although Shen Yue didn't say it, Chen Zhenlong knew that if he sided with the Snow Wind Family, then past friendship or not, he would be destroyed alongside Ye Zong. Looking at the constipated faces of the elders, they were thinking the same thing.

"Ye Zong has been my friend for a long time, so at most I can only raise the price. From now on the Snow Wind Family and its allies will be charged double. But I will not attack them, they are still Glory City citizens." With a heavy heart, Chen Zhenlong gave in and raised the price, drawing a line in the sand where he stood on this matter.

"That is true uncle Zhenlong, I will not be the one to draw first blood, but I will retaliate if he is stupid enough to attack me. Thank you for helping me in this matter, I will come again with gifts. The masked man said that the Immortal Elixir Guild had some new pills coming out and would gift me some." Shen Yue was happy, although he knew that Chen Zhenlong was brothers with Ye Zong, he was still reasonable enough to impose sanctions on the Family.

His next stop was, of course, the Celestial Brotherhood headquarters. It was time to publically meet his 'benefactor', the mysterious masked man. He really needed a stage name for Su Qiang.

As Shen Yue approached the compounds gates, he was stopped by a couple of overbearing guards. Su Mei was giggling behind her hand as he made a bit of a public spectacle. He could have managed it smoothly, but he wanted it to appear as if he had no relation with the mighty Brotherhood.

The crowd that had gathered to laugh at another arrogant young master were surprised when he was finally allowed entrance after arguing with the guards for twenty minutes.

As he was escorted to Su Qiang's office, he looked around at the progress the Brotherhood had made. The group now numbered close to a thousand members, with half of them at black-gold level. They also passed the 'Hall of Villians' that now held nineteen heads. Greed and humanity seemed to be synonymous.

When the guard closed the door on his way out, Shen Yue held up his finger signalling for quiet and took an inscription scroll out of his ring. After activating it, he spoke.

"Uncle Qiang, long time no see! It is safe to speak now, no sound should escape this room for an hour." Shen Yue informed him.

"Hahaha, young master, when I heard you were stuck at the gate, I couldn't help but laugh!" Chuckled the masked man.

"Tch, you are as bad as your daughter, she just giggled, no help at all! We have come today to let you know what has been happening, there have been some significant changes." He said pretending to be annoyed, Mei was giggling in the background again.

"I have heard rumours of the issue with young miss Ziyun and this Nie Li. I am sad to say, I judged her to be a good fit for young master." Su Qiang voiced his disappointment at hearing about Ye Ziyun's personality change.

"Yes, that is the main issue I need to talk about." Shen Yue then proceeded to fill Su Qiang in on the details of the 'Deity'.

"So you want me to become the City Lord? I thought Ye Zong wasn't to blame for the new Yi Ziyun's behaviour?" A perplexed Su Qiang asked.

"Eventually. To start with, we will economically destroy them and take away the resources of the imposters. In the end, Ye Zong is also a victim of this Deity's game, but we need to look after our own affairs first. When it is all over, we can just simply apologise and give him some land and resources so he can rebuild his Family anew."

"I need you to publically claim ownership of the two guilds and support my war against the three Families and their allies. You will also have to draw the heat from the imposters, here is a script to follow if you confront them, just laugh at them if you have no idea what they are saying." Shen Yue just threw poor Su Qiang under the bus, making him do all the dirty work while he reaped the benefits.

"Hahaha no problems young master, I was getting bored hunting demon beasts anyway!" Replied a jovial Su Qiang, he really was a great right-hand man.

"Excellent! I will be sending Ziyun over to give you a hand once she has gotten used to her new form. Oh and we need to give you a stage name, how about Voldemort, it means Flight of Death in an old language." Said Shen Yue trying to keep a straight face, convinced he was damaging his soul by not laughing. Ye Ziyun would think Su Qiang was an idiot but hopefully, target him as the reincarnator.

"Flight of Death! I like it, ok I will use Lord Voldemort as my name. Don't worry about Ziyun, I will make her my 'voice' so no one will disrespect her."

After some catching up and berating Su Mei for not looking after the young master enough, Shen Yue was on his way to the Immortal Elixir Guild to meet the Guild Leader.

During his sleepless night, Shen Yue had not forgotten to write out a list of all the new pills that Nie Li could introduce. From the Purple Haze Grass formulas to the forgotten recipes from before the Age of Darkness. Nie Li would give most of these to the Alchemy Association for free in the canon, Shen Yue, on the other hand, was going to dominate the market.

It had taken him a couple of hours to write them all out by hand. The Spirit Pacifying Pill, Detoxifying Spirit Pill, Flame Type Cold Resistance Pill, Demon Spirit Strengthening Pill, Demon Soul's Essence Elixir, Nine Transformation Pill, were the main ones that Nie Li introduced.

But Shen Yue was taking no chances, any pill that could be made from herbs on the Tiny World were going to be copyrighted.

"Let's see how he tries to make money now! If he tries to make them, I will sue him for all he is worth!" He laughed evilly. Su Mei was giving him a weird look as if lamenting her young master has finally lost his mind. No one appreciated the patented maniacal laugh in this world, it really was a pity.


	18. Chapter 18

Years ago, when the Alchemy Association collapsed, the elder council tried to sell the land and assets of the association to at least settle their accounts, and retire comfortably on. They did not expect Yang Xin to turn up at the auction and try to suppress them.

She held a grudge for the many manipulations of the higher-ups in the Association. As a beautiful woman, many tried to extort 'favours' for a helping hand rising through the ranks. They didn't foresee she would have the skill and ability to achieve it on her own.

So when the Hong Yue Family auction was about to start, she walked onto the stage and made a declaration.

"Anyone who bids on any of the items today will become the enemy of my Immortal Elixir Guild."

She then returned to her seat, waiting patiently for the auction to start. The crowd did not miss the three men standing to the side of the auctioneer platform with quills and parchment ready, nor the Immortal Elixir Guild robes they were wearing.

Some Families decided to ignore the blatant threat. They did not have enough sense to fear the one responsible for destroying what they were about to bid on. Or Maybe they thought themselves untouchable.

Regardless, the majority decided not to piss off the only place to buy pills used for cultivating, healing and everything in between. They stayed to enjoy the show and to see which idiots will soon be joining the commoners. Even the Hong Yue Family, owners of the auction house, dared not to criticize her.

Soon the different farms and assets belonging to the Alchemy Association were sold off piece by piece. The Sacred Family, secure with the knowledge that they could use the Dark Guild as support, started bidding. The Silver Tiger Family and the Chu Family seeing this, also joined in.

Although Yang Xin had enough money to buy everything, she decided to make these Families pay a high price. In the end, the Sacred Family took the lion's share, with the Chu Family taking all the alchemy equipment. The Silver Tiger Family picked up a couple of farms near their land.

Throughout this Yang Xin raised the price to the max her competition would pay and then stop bidding. She had not acquired a single item. Just when the three Families were patting themselves on the back, she once again stepped onto the stage.

"The Sacred Family, the Chu Family and the Silver Tiger Family, will be blacklisted from my Guild. We will not buy or sell anything to them. If a Family is caught selling our pills to these Families, they will also be blacklisted. If anyone is caught purchasing and then trading these Family's products to my guild, they will also be punished." After this proclamation, Yang Xin and her guild members left.

Everyone present was looking at the three Families with schadenfreude, they had practically isolated themselves from the rest of Glory City. Did they forget that the Celestial Brotherhood and Heavenly Crafting Guild might share a connection?

Two years later and only a much diminished Sacred Family had survived. The Chu Family was alchemy orientated and only able to produce the same pills as the now extinct Association, they soon followed it. The Silver Tiger Family was an aristocratic house under the Noble Hong Yue Family. After the debacle in the auction house, they lost that backing and could only swap their lucrative herb crops to supplying the City with food.

The Sacred Family tried to used the Dark Guild to attack the Immortal Elixir Guild, but unfortunately, this was accounted for. After the auction, Yang Xin had contacted Shen Yue secretly and asked for his advice.

Knowing the details behind the power of the Sacred Family, he immediately dispatched his guards to capture any Dark Guild members that attacked, interrogate them with the Soul Refining Technique, and destroy all members present in Glory City. Thanks to this, not only did Shen Yue 'buy' the Dark Guild's property, but he also de-fanged the Sacred Family's power.

After losing the Dark Guild's backing, Shen Hong could only sell off all the properties he had purchased for alchemy. This financial attack coupled with Shen Yue destroying his Dark Guild forces demoted the Family back to Noble status.

With the pressure from the Immortal Elixir Guild, these Families lost their wealth and were forced to auction their property to survive. This time nobody bid when Yang Xin made her announcement, buying them for a pittance of their worth. Although her plans to pauper the Association fell through, she still gained their assets cheaply, it just took longer than expected.

After finally acquiring the Alchemy Association's old headquarters, Yang Xiu destroyed it and then rebuilt a grand compound dedicated to her alchemy guild's needs.

Looking around the show of power and wealth, Shen Yue was more than pleased with Yang Xin's performance. He was looking forward to seeing the beauty again as they had kept contact to a minimum.

Following the same problem that had happened at the gates of the Brotherhood, thirty minutes of waiting and he was finally shown into Yang Xin's office.

Using the same inscription he used in Su Qiang's office, they now had no need to worry about being overheard.

"Apologies for the wait at the gate, but there are always flies buzzing around annoying me. Young master Shen Yue, it has been forever, you have certainly matured well!" Yang Xiu was in a teasing mood, running a discerning eye over his young body.

Shen Yue had decided to make this woman his since the beginning, so he couldn't help but be a little forceful in his reply. "Big sis Xiu you should be careful with what you say, you might get eaten!"

"Oh, you have matured that much? I thought you wouldn't be in the mood after having your little beauty stolen." Yang Xiu said with a seductive smirk, trying to rile him up.

Shen Yue just walked over and slapped her well-proportioned butt, smirking right back at her. "Are you offering to take her place?"

Yang Xiu didn't expect that! This little kid should be heartbroken over Ye Ziyun, not flirting with her, what was she missing? Rubbing her spanked perfection, she could only ask why he was here.

"I have come to take over Glory City!" Shen Yue didn't elaborate, if she wanted to play games he was more than happy to play along.

Seeing him smirking at her, she knew she might have opened the door to a bit of embarrassment, especially the way his eyes kept roaming her body. Feeling slight shame when thinking of seducing her thirteen-year-old boss, she thrust her ample chest out and took it to the next level.

"Young master surely you would tell your most devoted servant your plans for her." Leaning over to give him a view of paradise, she coyly simpered at him.

"I'm afraid that my most devoted servant is Mei, she devotes herself to me whenever I ask, can you say the same? I might change my mind if you showed me a bit more of that heavenly view though." Said a lecherous Shen Yue, it really was a fantastic view.

Now Yang Xin knew she had made a slight miscalculation, she was sure he would 'eat' her instantly if this went any further. Even though she was a legend level master and the leader of one of the several powerful organisations in Glory City, she was not blind.

The maid standing behind him smirking at her was peak legend rank like her, and the 'boy' was easily the most influential person on the planet. He was the reason she had the level of respect she commanded and had been true to his word, letting her govern the Guild how she saw fit. It was only a matter of time when he would reach the height of cultivation. Should she snatch him up? But isn't he a bit young?

Shen Yue could see her contemplating her next move and decided to help her along the path of desire.

"Yang Xin, there are going to be significant changes to the City after today, and your choice now will decide your place in it. If you want to stay as friends, then you will continue as you are now, managing a guild that will dominate the alchemy world. But if you become my woman, your cultivation will increase, and you will rule at my side as one of the goddesses of Tiny world. Legend rank is only the first step on the path of cultivation. So your choice is to remain as a Guild Master or become the Goddess of Alchemy."

Yang Xin suddenly felt she was transported back in time. When Shen Yue had given his first sales pitch of making her a renowned figure and boosting her rank to legend. She had chosen to trust him then, and he had delivered everything he had promised. Besides he was incredibly handsome, with his soft, snow white skin that almost glowed with ethereal charm. He was easily the most desired groom in the City, asking her to be his!

Loosening her robe, she proceeded to do as he had asked before, showing her magnificent twin peaks. "The Goddess of Alchemy greets her husband."

It was a satisfied man that left Yang Xin's office. Shen Yue's new wife was all he had hoped for, her devilishly sinful body was ripe to be plucked. And pluck it he did, repeatedly! He even had to renew the sound inscription when it ran out.

Following their vigorous coupling, Shen Yue filled her in on the past day's events and the action he would be taking. Handing her a list of secret techniques only his inner circle received, he made sure to stress the importance of his need for secrecy. Lord Voldemort would be her boss, and Shen Yue was only a patsy being used.

Taking the pill formulas from his ring, he handed them over to the buxom beauty. These were to be copyrighted immediately in preparation for Nie Li trying to sell them. Nie Li would be in for a nasty surprise when he came around trying to sell patented alchemy formulas.

Passionately kissing her sweet cherry lips goodbye, Shen Yue returned to his mansion. It was finally time to make his ultimate technique!


	19. Chapter 19

Three thousand six hundred super cultivation techniques. That was how many books Shen Yue had to improve in preparation for his perfect manual! Fortunately, there were fewer flaws since they were considered top class techniques. Still, even if he only spent fifteen minutes on each manual, that calculates to nine hundred hours!

Luckily he had a cheat he could use to reduce the time into four and a half days instead of thirty-seven and a half. The Yin-Yang Pendant he stole from the Earth slapper was capable of 1:100 time dilation and of being used for 2 hours a day at the first level. He would need to bind it with blood to access the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Even with this cheat item, the time needed was still nine hundred hours, it would just be passed in another realm. Shen Yue was starting to regret his need for the 'perfect' technique and was seriously contemplating just using the standard book his library would compile. But the iron will he had formed from countless years of waiting, would not be swayed.

Just for a comparison, he mentally made a copy of the Three thousand six hundred super cultivation techniques and compiled them. The result was spectacular. The books disintegrated and merged into a plain-featured manual that was superior to Nie Li's in every way.

The manual would allow him to contract twenty-nine demon spirit beasts, one for each variant of the seven main elements, plus neutral! Like Nie Li's Heavenly God Technique, he would train both his soul force and enhance the strength of his physical body at the same time. But unlike the slow and hard to practice Heavenly God method, he would rise through the ranks at a decent speed with a stable foundation.

This was everything he had imagined since he saw the Library of Heavens Path in God's shop. What would it be like if he compiled upgraded manuals together? When he looked through the original techniques, he noted that many of them had skills or benefits that are not transferred into the newly created manual.

Some even offered ways to hide his cultivation, cancelling the need to create a separate technique. The Nine Revolving Ice Phoenix Technique that Nie Li gave Ye Ziyun possesses the ability to give her nine lives. Others change the user's Qi into their attribute, like a power of law. Lu Piao's Holy Primal Chaos Technique is an example of this, he has to foster Chaos Qi in his body, changing his Qi.

His path clear, Shen Yue took out the three items he needed to bind to his soul. First was the ring in the shape of a heart. With a drop of blood and conscious thought, he turned it into a devil smiley face and hid it. Shen Yue now had a second high-quality storage ring.

After letting his most trusted maid know that he was going to try out the items he stole from the imposters, he had Mei watch over him. This was to make sure he was not harmed or to divert attention if he disappeared.

Next was the pendant, he vaguely remembered that the original owner from the novel, activated it by extreme exhaustion and then later he entered the realm by dropping blood on it. Skipping the exhaustion step, he dripped some blood onto it causing a blue screen to appear with the pendant's details.

[ The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal Pendant / System – A soul-bound pendant containing a realm only accessible to the owner. No other human beings are allowed entry unless they are already dead. (Or have, a spiritual connection to the owner.) Time flows at a rate of 100:1 in the realm compared to the outside world. The landscape of this realm has a circumference of roughly a 33,000 Square Meters, every increase of the level of this Realm will increase the size of space available. ]

As soon as the screen disappeared the Yin-Yang Pendant begin to emit waves of soft violet light, slowly enveloping Shen Yue. The Pendant seemed to be steadily absorbing his blood as the waves of violet light got stronger, changing the Yin-Yang Pendant to a dark violet hue. Before Mei could even blink, he vanished.

Shen Yue appeared in the middle of an otherworldly landscape in front of a small pool of water. The pond had a circumference and depth of about 10m, the water in it seemed to sparkle with the shine of purity, devoid of any pollutants.

To the side of the pond was a weird looking tree, as well as a stone monument. This stone monument was roughly two metres squared and gave off a majestic aura as if it held absolute power in this supernatural realm. Inspecting the tablet, Shen Yue read what was basically recorded on the blue screen.

[Once the first layer of the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal had been unlocked, a vigorous-looking tree would appear in it. This tree takes 100 years to mature, and every 100 years, it will produce 10 fruits. The name of the fruit on this tree is known as the Energy Enhancing Fruits. If ingested by normal humans, this could increase their strength level by 250kg. Alchemists can use these fruits for pill concoction.

Note: effect of Energy Enhancing Fruits can only stack 2 times, consuming more is pointless.]

Below this was a list of different levels waiting to be unlocked.

[Unlocking the 2nd Layer of the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal],

all the way to [Unlocking 9th Layer of the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal]

Before he got carried away experimenting with his new toys, Shen Yue thought it prudent to teleport back and reassure Mei. Suddenly appearing in front of a slightly worried Mei, he gave her his brightest smile.

"It works! I suddenly appeared in a small realm with a tree and a pond. Did my body stay here?"

"No, you vanished but then a couple of seconds later, you reappeared. Why do you have a violet dot on your forehead?" She asked with a slight smile, she was happy her young master was fine but wondering at his choice of accessories.

Rubbing his head and finding a small pearl he frowned. "It is from the item I stole. Hopefully, I can get rid of it, or it will cause me problems. I will be gone for two hours so if anyone asks, tell them I am resting." After confirming his well being, Shen Yue reentered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Upon entering the realm again, he sat down cross-legged and focused inwardly on his soul realm. Although Shen Yue could not cultivate, that did not stop him from meditating and becoming familiar with his soul realm. With his upgraded Secret Soul technique, he could manipulate his soul force and inspect his soul realm at will.

His soul realm was completely empty, not even having a disordered form like Nie Li. He had always wondered if it was because God had made him like this when he asked to have a neutral attribute. It certainly would not hinder his cultivation by being incompatible with a technique. After he had soul-bound the pendant with blood, a large Yin-Yang image now dominated his soul realm.

Concentrating his soul force, he investigated the image. As soon as he made contact with the Yin-Yang symbol with his soul force a large amount of information seared itself to his mind.

Strengthening Techniques, Meditation Techniques, Alchemy, Smithing Skills, Hidden Weapon Techniques, Tailoring, Cooking, Hunting, and various other Craftsmen techniques all continued to be imprinted in his brain. Just like a red hot branding iron used to mark cattle, the information was burned into his mind, making him incapable of forgetting it.

After this influx of knowledge, the Yin-Yang image gradually shrunk to the size of a coin. Slowly and continually rotating in his dantian. Shen Yue could slightly feel that with each rotation, the symbol actually emitted a minuscule amount of energy. This energy flowed towards all his meridians and the organs in his body, slowly transforming them.

He had totally overlooked this application of the pendant! Shen Yue solely focused on the pendant's realm, forgetting the name of the novel! Ancient Strengthening Technique, the MC of the story received all these skills when he ran himself into physical exhaustion.

Apparently, they had originated from a game he was playing when he was killed and crossed over to a mythical world. Even though the abilities came from a game, they proved to be real-life skills that he used to conquer the world. This was confirmed when he examined his library, and it had grown once again!

He had been slightly worried as the MC had only unlocked knowledge when he advanced in levels of the Ancient Strengthening Technique. But with the skills and professional manuals scanned into his library, he would be memorising it instantly when he finally advanced to bronze rank.

Shen Yue was slightly hesitant to promote to the bronze realm. The ability to assimilate the content of everything collected in the Library of Heaven's Path instantaneously will activate, forcing millions of books into his brain. He hoped God had planned for this as he thought his head might explode.

Shen Yue wondered if the slapper had obtained this knowledge before he had stolen it. He really hoped she hadn't as that would cause her growth to develop in insane ways. Judging by the way the Yin Yang symbol changed after downloading the information, Shen Yue doubted it.

When he had been pillaging, her soul realm had seen an ice phoenix flying around a massive Yin-Yang symbol. This indicated she had yet to activate it, maybe she had also forgotten the abilities it contained. Luckily, Shen Yue had been searching for a way to get rid of the violet pearl on his forehead, thinking it might be controlled through the Yin-Yang symbol.

He was right, but he had also triggered the information download that the original owner had activated by exhausting himself. Quite happy with this windfall, he pulled out the supreme treasure that he had looted from Nie Li.

It was time to place the first brick on his path to domination. The Temporal Destiny Seed of Creation was also one of the main factors in him holding off on his cultivation. He was unsure if he needed a clean slate like Nie Li to 'plant' the seed.

Dripping some blood on the seed and enveloping it in his soul force was all he needed to do, as it started to pulse with a golden glow. Succeeding in establishing a link with the seed, it then proceeded to absorb his meagre supply of soul force and vanish into his soul realm. He could not see it but could feel a mysterious 'something' hiding within his soul realm.

With his preparations complete, he got to work upgrading the many manuals he wanted in his final cultivation technique.


	20. Chapter 20

Two hours later Su Mei was greeted with the sight of her young master appearing from thin air. He was extremely haggard looking and smelt terrible. She summoned some of her subordinate maids, ordering them to bathe Shen Yue while she went to the kitchens to prepare a full meal for him. An hour later and Shen Yue was tucked into bed sleeping like the dead.

While Shen Yue was peacefully sleeping, the rest of the City was full of activity. Ye Zong, in particular, was thinking he would never sleep peacefully again! Two days ago he had been on top of the world, the City was peaceful and his beautiful wife and daughter smiling and content.

Then out of the blue, his daughter had shamed his whole family by being mounted by a penniless farmer in front of a crowd! She was not even regretful about her actions, only admitting to being embarrassed at being caught in the act!

In his rush to minimise the fallout to his Family's reputation, he had used his position to keep her from being expelled from the most prestigious institute in Glory City. His cousin Ye Sheng had helped but had been angered at the blow to the Family's face.

Ye Zong had then done his best to stop any word of the event from disseminating into the City, but alas, every man and his dog was already talking about the most beautiful whore in the city being cheap enough for a talent-less farmer to afford!

*CRACK*

The arm of his throne had been snapped off in his rage at remembering the brazen lout that had shouted out asking how much the 'whore princess' cost and if every hole was rentable!

Ye Zong had immediately sent his men to find the mongrel responsible, but they returned empty-handed. Unable to locate the offender in the crowd that had gathered to laugh at the most respected man in the City with the cheapest daughter.

Unknown to Ye Zong, the 'brazen lout' was one of Shen Yue's men. He was ordered by Mei to destroy Ye Ziyun's name, they had no chance of catching a legend rank expert.

If his daughter's shameful behaviour infuriated him, his wife's cold demeanour frightened him. When Ye Ziyun had yelled at Ye Rou when she reprimanded her, his eyes nearly popped out of his head in disbelief! Ye Ziyun had never been punished before, but that night she learnt the hard way. Ye Rou had a temper and a mean bitch-slapping hand.

Even after confessing, Ye Ziyun had remained unrepentant. Declaring she was in love with Nie Li, and there was nothing wrong with a couple acting like a husband and a wife.

Speaking of wives, Ye Zong's wanted nothing more than to slap Ye Ziyun every time she laid eyes on her. When he had got back from meeting Ye Sheng, he had tried to comfort her, getting her to try and reconcile with their wayward daughter. But Ye Rou had said something that had sent a chill down his spine.

She couldn't comprehend how Ye Ziyun had thrown away her mother's benefactor, for a talent-less farmer that she met at school for the first time! Ye Zong had completely forgotten Shen Yue, the most prosperous child in Glory City. In his haste to calm his daughter and keep any shred of dignity she still held, he had granted that little shit Nie Li his blessing to marry her.

He would have to summon Shen Yue and apologise for the shameful behaviour of his daughter and try and appease him. Just as he was trying to think of a way to ask forgiveness, a servant announced that Ye Sheng was here to see him. When Ye Sheng entered, his face warned him that the news would not be pleasant.

"Ye Zong, we have overlooked something this morning that might cause a bit of a problem. Shen Yue was enraged to hear that Nie Li and Ye Ziyun went unpunished and were sitting together as if nothing had happened. Nie Li antagonising him didn't help. He has declared war on our Snow Wind, the Winged Dragon, and the Heavenly Marks Families."

"What! How dare the little bastard! Our Family has been nothing but caring to the ungrateful rat, I even wanted him to marry Ye Ziyun!" Ye Zong raged.

"Are you even listening to yourself? He was supposed to marry your daughter but instead finds out she was defiled and sitting in class next to her lover like it was the most natural thing in the world! He then finds out from some nobody that you had even blessed the marriage! What would you do? Ask him for money while you were already spitting on your honour?" Ye Sheng was also infuriated, how was this idiot the City Lord?

Ye Zong was stupefied by Ye Sheng's outburst. His mouth was opened, and his eyes bulged in his disbelief, what he was just told struck him as if slapped! He would want blood if someone disrespected him like this!

But even after having his eyes opened, it was far too late to do anything. Shen Yue had already publicly declared war so Ye Zong would show him the power of a City Lord!

Seeing the thought flash across Ye Zong's face, Ye Sheng voiced his thoughts to the City Lord. "Even if he is just a child without power now, do you really think he will always stay that way? At the age of eight, he had already created his own family. What do you think he will do in ten years?" After saying this, he left, not bothering to say anything further.

Hearing this was another wake-up call for the City Lord. Indeed, with the new powers now gathered in Glory City, he would be able to find a backer easily. Just as Ye Zong was pondering over how to deal with this situation another servant entered. Chen Zhenlong had come to see him.

"Brother, just the man I need to talk to. I need your help with Shen Yue." Ye Zong was glad to see an old friend, he was the perfect man to help him put Shen Yue in his place.

"Ye Zong, you have really messed up this time. I thought I told you not to anger that little devil all those years ago. He appears to be the instigator for every new disaster in Glory City!" Said Chen Zhenlong with a sad smile.

"Surely it's not that bad? Without your support, the little bastard would be suppressed quickly!" Ye Zong could not understand why Chen Zhenlong was so worried about this situation.

"If was just me, yes. Unfortunately, Shen Yue came prepared. He has the backing of the masked man, and I was forced to raise the price of the Holy Dark Grass pills to you and your allies. It was either that or cut you off completely. I told him that I would not support any attack on your Family and he was quick to say he would only retaliate." Said Che Zhenlong, a bit embarrassed he was put into a position where he had to choose Shen Yue over his sworn brother.

"What! How has this happened so quickly? Ziyun and that little shit swore that they were influenced by something, could this be a plot?"

"It seems that the masked man has been waiting for an opportunity to make his move. Your daughter's choice to throw the Runaway Prince's face on the ground, and chase the poor farmer, gave him the perfect opening to act. I'm afraid that you will have to bear this quietly Brother Zong, he is surely waiting for you to take action so he can use force." Chen Zhenlong replied.

"So it was a scheme for the City Lord title. That stupid girl! How could she choose Nie Li? Is he part of the conspiracy?" Possible schemes were running through his mind, how was he going to counter this? Why had Ye Mo decided to leave on one of his trips at such a crucial time!

"I doubt it, he is most likely just a money grubbing fool. Trying to use your daughter as a way to leverage his Family out of the dirt. But you will face the combined might from the Immortal Elixir Guild, Celestial Brotherhood and Heavenly Crafting Guild. Shen Yue confirmed that the masked man owned the alchemy guild and they would have a new range of pills out soon." Chen Zhenlong informed Ye Zong about his biggest problem, some dirt poor farmer turned gold digger, was the least of his worries.

Ye Zong looked like he had just been punched in the stomach, his earlier bravado gone as he was hit with the full repercussions of the mess he was in. He continued to talk with the Divine Family patriarch further, not forgetting to thank him for letting him know the terrible situation about to assault his Family.

After Chen Zhenlong left, he sat on his damaged throne, hoping that Ye Mo would quickly return. All he could do now was call a Family conference and stress heavily the importance of not making the situation worse. But how was he going to tell them that him not punishing his daughter, had likely led to the City Lord seat being taken away? Worse, how was he going to tell his wife? She already was on his case for not punishing her!

"What was that worthless girl thinking! She had single-handedly caused their Family's downfall from the highest position! She was not even sorry about the mess she had made! Maybe Rou's proposal to punish her was the correct action, yes, he would leave his daughter to her mother!" With that thought, he called a servant to send out a summons to all the leading members of the Family. Sleep would not come easily tonight.


	21. Chapter 21

Someone else that was having trouble sleeping was Xiao Yunfeng, and the five elders gathered in the Family's great hall. Xiao Yi was still recovering, but he made his position clear, Shen Yue must die!

Of course, they would never try to act on Xiao Yi's orders to kill Shen Yue, their Family was already crippled in power. Tonight's business was to determine the future of their Family.

Xiao Yunfeng had received his daughter's letter. He had been livid at Xiao Yi's behaviour, not only did he shame Xiao Ning'er by implying she was cheating on Shen Fei, he even threatened and disrespected the Nemesis Family! To the patriarch's face! In his own home! It was lucky he was not killed.

Then just as he was urging the Family to punish the Xiao Yi and apologise to Shen Yue, news had come of the scandal and war declaration towards the Snow Wind and Heavenly Marks Families. His Family was also mentioned, but they had already got that message when the group of their members came back crippled!

Ning'er had painted a clear message for her father, get the Family to apologise or abandon it at all cost! He had known Ning'er had hated the fact the Family had bargained her off to the Sacred Family and ever since she was told, she had withdrawn and become cold.

Being her father, this had hurt him deeply, but there was nothing he could do. Now that he was told he could restart the family under Shen Yue and regain most of the property they had lost rekindled his hope for him and his daughter. Ning'er also mentioned that Shen Yue had a strong backer and even ten Sacred Families would not phase him.

This was all he needed to hear, and even with the City Lord as an enemy, he would trust his daughter's judgement. This meeting was to see where the elders sat on the situation and whether or not he would leave the Family.

Just as they were about to begin the meeting, Xiao Yi was wheeled in the door by Shen Fei. Some of the elders immediately adopted frowns, it was clear to see that Xiao Yi was in the Sacred Family's pocket with this move.

"Xiao Yi, this is a Family meeting. Why is an outsider here?" Xiao Yunfeng made his position clear.

"What outsider? This is your soon to be son in law!" The scheming elder replied.

"I was going to bring this up tonight in the meeting, but seeing as you are in a rush to sell our Family, I will let you know now. Whatever is decided tonight one thing will be clear. Ning'er will not be marring this piece of trash!" Xiao Yunfeng said with disdain, he had been watching this brat closely after the engagement and was horrified with the thought of his daughter being sacrificed to him.

"Impossible! How dare you insult young master Shen! It is clear you are unfit to rule this Family!" This was what Xiao Yi wanted.

This was the main reason why he invited Shen Fei to the Family meeting tonight. With the blatant intimidation using the Sacred Family through Shen Fei, the unsettled patriarch would make mistakes. Xiao Yi would then capitalise on them and fight for control of the Family. It was a pity he could barely move, or he would be celebrating with how well the plan was going.

"Oh, you still want a marriage between our Family and the Sacred Family? Then marry him yourself! You already seem close enough to share a bed!" Xiao Yunfeng was empowered by his knowledge of Shen Yue's strength. It was as if a mountain had been lifted from his shoulders and he was even enjoying himself!

Xiao Yi, on the other hand, was baffled by the patriarch uncouth behaviour. Looking around at the elders and seeing them in similar states of bewilderment, he made his play for the throne.

"I think your time as the patriarch of the Winged Dragon Family has come to an end, I call for a vote of no confidence!"

Within ten minutes Xiao Yunfeng was outed, with only one of his cousins voting against. It was clear to see that ever since the Sacred Family pressured them into selling their property, that Xiao Yi had been whispering in their ears. What a coincidence he should have Shen Fei behind him when he took over as the new patriarch.

"The Family has spoken, Xiao Ning'er shall be given to Shen Fei as a concubine, and we will be joining the City Lord in his fight against Shen Yue." Xiao Yi was quick to promise Shen Fei Xiao Ning'er, he really had an unhealthy obsession with her.

"I'm afraid you don't have the right to give my daughter away to this sick little shit, as she is no longer of the Winged Dragon Family. And after what I have seen here today, neither am I. I will be taking my family, and any who want to join, and rebuilding it under the Nemesis Family. Enjoy living under the elder responsible for our Family's downfall, you think it a coincidence he is here with the Sacred Family heir?" Xiao Yunfeng walked out without even bothering to argue further.

The family he had dedicated most of his life to had become unrecognisable. A once proud Noble Family now at the call of the Sacred Family after they were the ones that crippled them. He was sure Xiao Yi had something to do with it, it was to smooth a takeover for it to be anything other than an inside job.

Before he could make it too far, the elder that had voted for him, Xiao Fu, caught up and asked to join in the emigration from the Family. Of course, he was welcomed and told to gather anyone of like mind, they would be departing first thing in the morning.

Shen Yue woke and was still feeling lethargic. He only had a few things to organise as he waited for his plans to start bearing fruit. His chief objective for the next week would be completing his cultivation technique, and he would not be making any significant moves until then.

He was enjoying a relaxing breakfast with Ning'er, Mei and a plethora of beautiful housemaids. It was going a long way to healing his mental fatigue from eight days of minimal sleep and tedious work.

Sadly it was interrupted by a maid, informing him that Xiao Yunfeng and thirty others were at the front gate. He told her to bring him here and settle the others while he talked to Ning'er's dad.

"Greetings Patriarch Shen, I have come to accept the vassal position. I am sorry to come so early, but we could not stand to be near those Sacred Family dogs any longer!" Said Xiao Yunfeng, kneeling in front of Shen Yue.

Shen Yue was still at the table eating breakfast and was caught off guard by Xiao Yunfeng enthusiasm to become his vassal. Giving Ning'er a raised eyebrow and seeing her turn red and look away, told him that this was organised by her. He did offer her father a place in his Family, so he supposed this was ok.

"Rise Xiao Yunfeng, you don't need to kneel, you are Ning'er's father after all. There is no problem with you becoming a vassal, but all your Family will need to be given a loyalty mark. This will turn a seal stone red if the target has thoughts of betrayal, but to compensate this, every member will receive a tailor-made cultivation manual that will elevate you to legend rank within two years." Said Shen Yue, standing up and moving to his new father in law to show some respect.

Xiao Yunfeng was blown away by these words, he didn't miss the look Shen Yue gave Ning'er, it seemed his daughter had expedited the start of his new Family. Legend rank was an unattainable dream, yet here this child was offering it to him as if it was nothing. The people gathered around the breakfast table didn't even bat an eye.

"Just experiencing betrayal myself, I know how you feel. I can't speak for everyone, but I have no problems with it." Xiao Yunfeng had already left the Winged Dragon Family, there was no going back. So a loyalty mark didn't bother him too much, especially when promised to be raised to a legend ranked expert!

In the end, only one person left before they were marked. According to Xiao Fu, he was most likely a spy as he had come to him at the last minute begging to join the new Family. Shen Yue then made a new technique for his new vassal Family, the Soaring Dragon Family.

Giving Ning'er authority to set them up in a courtyard until they had found one of their own, he then left her to settle them in before discussing business.

An hour later a cheerful Xiao Yunfeng was going over his 'new' property. He couldn't help but laugh at Xiao Yi, he had sold the Family to the Sacred Family and was left with only twenty percent of their original property. Yet Xiao Yunfeng had started a new Family and already had nearly three times the property of his old Family, he really had a good daughter!

Shen Yue was also informed of his brothers move to take what was his, Ning'er. Shen Fei didn't know it yet, but he had just cut the life of the Sacred Family short by a year.

They had always been doomed since Shen Hong had beaten him, but now they had just moved to the top of his shit list. He had been content to distract the Earth slapper with them, yet it seemed they wanted to die early.


	22. Chapter 22

A week had quickly passed in Glory City, but what an exciting week! The 'Runaway Prince' had been thrown away by the 'Glory Goddess' in favour of the 'Beggar Baron'! The Prince had then saved Xiao Ning'er the 'Ice Queen' from a marriage with Shen Fei the 'Playboy' and then declared war on everyone involved!

All sorts of nicknames where being thrown around and the commoners were having the time of their life! They had never had so much to gossip about! But just as they thought nothing else could top this, the 'Masked Man' had finally revealed himself!

He had sent all his Celestial Brotherhood members out to proclaim his backing for Shen Yue, the Runaway Prince! In every public gathering place, a Brotherhood member could be heard shouting out Lord Voldemort's proclamation.

"People of Glory City! I, Lord Voldemort, know by many as the 'Masked Man', have had enough of the incompetence of the City Lord! Since I came to this great City, I have heard his name praised, but was never given a reason why.

He has done nothing to reduce the numbers of the surrounding demon beasts threatening the City, nor has he rewarded those that do! The Celestial Brotherhood found a Snow Wind Great Ape horde in the millions, south of the City. That beast horde could have destroyed Glory City with ease if we didn't hunt them ruthlessly!

The Dark Guild has not been hunted down or had any action taken against them. The City Lord does not even know where their base is! We had found evidence of their help in growing the Snow Wind Great Ape horde and quickly moved to destroy this Demon Lord's plan, whatever that had been. But has the so-called authorities done anything similar?

What does the City Lord do other than collect taxes? I see no money spent on the commoners, suffering under his rule! I see no patrols to cull the growing threats to the City! I only see him using his power to oppress the people and keep his whore daughter in an institute that only caters to the rich!

My Celestial Brotherhood, Immortal Elixir Guild, and the Heavenly Crafting Guild recruit mostly from the commoners for this reason. No one has given you a chance to prove yourself or to help you out of the shit situation he has engineered to keep you down!

I say no more to a worthless waste, that hides behind his legend rank daddy! A legend ranked expert that has done nothing to enhance our City! I declare it is time for a new City Lord! A leader that will help the people without caring about their Family's rank or status!

Shen Yue has also tried to help the citizens of Glory City, and how was he treated? Publically shamed by the actions of a so-called Noblewoman and discarded without a thought. His plight was the last straw that made me realise that the City Lord was unfit to rule. I will be backing his fight against the Snow Wind, Winged Dragon, and Heavenly Marks Families.

I, Lord Voldemort, am a legend ranked master. I call for your support in becoming a City Lord worthy of the position! Next month, there will be a vote for the station of City Lord, or there will be the spilt blood of a tyrant!"

After the Brotherhood members read these words, there had been total silence for a good minute. No one had ever mentioned any of the shortcomings of the government of Glory City before! They had just gone with the flow, content in their station of life.

But now there was a legend ranked expert calling for the betterment of commoners! Unafraid to shout at the injustice the poor had to shoulder to survive. Even if the current City Lord had not really done them wrong, this one could give them a chance to cultivate!

Suddenly, throughout the City, cheering for Lord Voldemort could be heard. It swept through Glory City even quicker than the gossip about Ye Ziyun! Lord Voldemort didn't need to appear in public for the commoners to chant his name, just his word was enough to drive them into a frenzy.

Who didn't know of the three powerful organisations in the City, even the poorest of the poor wanted a chance to join them. The Brotherhood had recruited solely from the impoverished section of the city, and the new squires were likewise chosen by members that had grown up there.

There was not a person that was not talking about the possible new City Lord. Even the current City Lord was talking about him, well more cursing than talking. Ye Ziyun had also taken a great interest in this Lord Voldemort.

She could not help but frown identity of the transmigrator. Was Shen Yue a patsy or was this now self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort? On one side you had an unknown legend ranked leader of three powerful organisations, and on the other, a rich, arrogant thirteen-year-old that could read books fast and remember a third of the knowledge.

Which was the one set up to draw her attention? She had met Shen Yue, and he only seemed like an arrogant rich kid that was hurt when she cut ties with him. His immediate response to declare war on everyone supported his canon personality.

No, she decided that only an 'immature loser virgin' could name himself Lord Voldemort and attempt to rule Glory City. The jerk she had argued with on the fan-fiction website would not have been able to share power and remain weak. The megalomaniac pretending to be a storybook villain had to be him. She had just been overthinking things, she would not be fooled any longer by his attempt to frame Shen Yue!

She really regretted yelling at Shen Yue, it had been the origin of a disastrous week! It had started off so well, with Nie Li worshipping her and giving her a technique straight away!

Although it was not the Heavenly God Technique, because she needed to have a neutral attribute, it was still overpowered. It gave her nine lives if she practised it to a satisfactory level, and she was advancing in her cultivation at a visible speed! She had already reached 3-star bronze rank!

Ye Ziyun was sure this was the only reason her new mother had stopped slapping her every time she saw her. After that idiot had declared himself running for the City Lord position, even her father had started giving her a cold look.

That night, Ye Zong had gathered her and Ye Rou for a private chat. Her act of publically fornicating with Nie Li turned out to be a plot by that arsehole! He had known she would run off with Nie Li and had drugged them so she would trash her reputation!

As punishment, she was grounded and had to be escorted every time she left her courtyard! Luckily she had already given Nie Li five million demon spirit coins, all the money she could get her hands on before her funds were frozen. He was going to use that to enact his Purple Haze Grass plan.

This had cooled her mother's blame for her slightly, but she had still ranted about how Shen Yue had been wronged! Ye Rou had already been planning her wedding and was devastated when she had 'changed her mind'.

If it wasn't for God's blanket acceptance of her as the 'real' Ye Ziyun, she was sure she would have been outed then and there! Lord Voldemort, god she hated calling him that, had been active for six years. He must have used his points to start early!

She really regretted not asking more questions or looking through the options more! She had treated this as a bit of a game, not taking it too seriously. After all, she would be able to return to earth after this 'game' finished. God had even implied she could 'work' some more to raise her final evaluation!

She would have to be cautious of Lord Vol... No, she would call him 'Clown' from now on. She would have to be careful of the Clown, as he has a high cultivation rank and a strong backing. She was sure she was safe, as God had made it impossible for the Clown to kill her. She assumed this also covered him ordering her death.

She just had to stay in the City Lord's manor and wait for Nie Li to dispose of him! After all, God only said they were not allowed to kill each other, Nie Li acting on his own had nothing to do with her! What an idiot, directly opposing the main character!

Nie Li was supposed to meet her tomorrow and update her on his alchemy plans. She was only permitted to see him once a week with an inforced escort, it made it hard to coordinate their schemes. But she was confident that the Clown's Alchemy Guild was about to be destroyed with Nie Li's new pills!

After the mess on the first day of school, Nie Li had been watched closely. Since Nie Li was not of a Noble Family, he was prohibited from leaving the school grounds, stifling his plans to raise money for his cultivation. Since Ye Ziyun remembered some of their last life, he had decided to quit school to allow him to further their plans. She was the only reason he was there in the first place.

Seeing the hate in Shen Yue's eyes as he stole his women brought him great joy! The Sacred Family had abandoned Glory City in its hour of need, and he intended to deliver them retribution. He did not care that he had started another Family, as he was sure it was some plot by the Masked Man.

This was proven correct the next day when the scoundrel had declared himself the next City Lord! Lord Voldemort, was a name he had never heard before, and it worried him who it could be. If he and Ziyun could remember their past life, could it be this person also did? Was he the leader of the Dark Guild that people whispered about? The Demon Lord?

These thoughts kept him occupied as he waited for his trial to begin. Since the Alchemy Association had been disbanded and the only Alchemy Guild in the City run by the enemy, Nie Li decided to use his now school free days to make his own pills to sell to the highest bidder!

Renting a small house and outfitting it with essential pill concocting equipment, Nie Li then proceeded to buy up all the available Purple Haze Grass. It was then stored in his brand new Interspatial ring. He remembered the cheap grass being a tenth of the price, but it couldn't be helped. This new guild had a monopoly of anything alchemy related, and the prices reflected this.

When he had gathered everything he needed, Nie Li spent the next five days making pills that would destroy any of the ones the people of the Divine Continent could make! With a thousand cultivation pills bottled, and ready for sale, he had gone to the closest auction house.

Nie Li had arrogantly proclaimed his pills superior to anything on the market, even though he had not checked if this was true. When he went to scout the opposition, he had quickly been thrown out on the street none too gently. Nie Li had not seen the list of pills available in the Immortal Elixir Guild, but this excuse would not hold up as an acceptable defence.

Assuming long-lost pills would remain forgotten, he had presented them to the auction house, revealing their name and effects. When he had been asked where he acquired the pills, he fobbed it off on a mysterious master alchemist. Nie Li was then told to take a seat while they tested the efficacy of these pills, he had no idea of what was about to befall him.

A runner was quickly dispatched to the Immortal Elixir Guild with news of a boy and his mysterious master trying to sell their products. The auction house did not have enough fame or guts to go against them, they had seen what they were capable of!

Yang Xin had been prepared for anyone trying to sell their pills as Shen Yue had already informed her of his suspicions when she registered them at the Saint Judgement Hall. She had left strict instructions, that any news of fraud was to be relayed to her immediately.

The auction house's runner was shown straight to her office and retold what had transpired. Yang Xin had then gathered five black-gold guards and gone straight to the auction house to catch the thief in the act.

To say Nie Li was surprised when the buxom beauty and her guards walked in was an understatement. He had been expecting a grovelling old man ready to make a deal, not a group of clearly hostile experts!

"Who are you and why are you selling our pills!"

Hearing this, Nie Li knew he was in trouble.


	23. Chapter 23

Nie Li was being frog-marched to Saint Judgement Hall by Yang Xin, her guards and the manager from the auction house. He had continued to insist that a mysterious master was responsible for the pill recipes and refused to elaborate.

They soon reached the Saint Judgement Hall and went straight to the officers in charge of enforcing the Demon Spiritualist Code of Conduct. Their case was recorded, and the evidence supplied by the auction house manager was handed over. An officer was dispatched to locate the patriarch of the Heavenly Marks Family and Nie Li's parents.

As he was still considered a minor, his parents would be responsible for his actions. Safe to say, he would not be getting off with a slap on the wrist. Especially when he could not produce his 'master' or evidence of his ownership of the formulas.

Not being able to proceed with the case, Nie Li was taken into custody until an adult could be found to explain his actions. Yang Xin sent a messenger to summon Shen Yue to her office, as she could not be seen lowering her head to a junior.

When Shen Yue received the message he laughed and gathered and entourage to head to the Guild. Even though he was worn out from his continuous work in the other realm, this was worth the trip!

Activating a sound cancelling inscription, Shen Yue eagerly greeted Yang Xin.

"So, we ended up catching the imposter in our net, I hope you made sure to encourage the officers to charge him with the maximum sentence!"

"Of course, but because he is a minor, we have to wait for his parents and his Family's patriarch. They won't be happy when they hear their Family has been blacklisted from our organisations and facing criminal charges of fraud!" Yang Xin gave an alluring laugh.

"I would have loved to see his face when he was trying to explain his master! Make sure to reward the auction house for informing us so quickly."

"I already did, I gave them ten bottles of each of our new pills to auction off, I even let them keep the profit in thanks!" Replied Yang Xin, she knew when to treat a good deed with kindness.

"Oh, before I forget, send some pills to the Divine Family. I promised them I would gift them some for siding with me against the City Lord." Said Shen Yue.

After ensuring that Yang Xin would hit the Heavenly Marks Family for all they were worth, he went home to continue resting. He had gained a massive influx of new books with the knowledge from the pendant, and it could only help his new Technique.

Two days later and Nie Li was ready to go on trial, his family had arrived. There was no great gathering or interference from other Families, it was just the two parties affected and any witnesses involved.

Three Judgement officers sat in the courtroom ready to hear this case. The officer that had recorded the incident was brought in to read out the particulars of the case and the charges that were laid.

"We are gathered here today to hear of the fraud committed by the Heavenly Marks Family against the Immortal Elixir Guild. How does the defendant plead?"

"Not Guilty. This has all just been a misunderstanding, a childish cry for attention." Nie Hai, the patriarch of the Family, was quick to answer trying to end the case with a misdemeanour fine.

"And the plaintiff?" Queried one of the officers judging the case.

"We do not find it funny to be defrauded of millions of demon spirit coins, classified formulas must have been stolen for these pills to be reproduced! We push for the harshest penalties available!" Said Yang Xin, her instructions were clear, cause as much damage to the Family as was possible.

"What do you mean by stolen?" Inquired an officer for clarification.

"These pills have only recently been registered with the Saint Judgement Hall as the property of the Immortal Elixir Guild. Surely your Hall would not divulge protected information, and our Guild definitely would not have interacted with a Family that has been labelled an enemy. How else could a destitute farming Family start producing our new products?" Replied Yang Xin.

"How indeed. Heavenly Marks Family, how did you come by these formulas and who made these pills?" With a possible leak in the Hall, suddenly this case just received considerably more scrutiny.

Patriarch Nie Hai furrowed his bushy white eyebrows, he had only found out recently that his Family had entered into a feud with powerful Families. He had been on his way to the city with Nie Li's parents when he had met the Judgment officer's group.

Now it turns out his Family was also being sued by the Immortal Elixir Guild! How did one thirteen-year-old boy cause so much harm! Before the trial, he had asked Nie Li how he had gained the pills and formulas. He had answered that his 'Master' had taught him alchemy and that he had made the pills himself!

If this was true, then the child was a prodigy! But his Master had thrown them under the bus with the stolen formulas! The child had refused to name his Master, even when his father had taken a belt to him! He could only relay the information he got out of Nie Li.

"This child has been taught alchemy by an unknown master. He refuses to name the man who supplied him the formula, but it was Nie Li that concocted the pills."

"Are you saying that this brat can produce master level pills? How long was he learning? Surely your Family had to have known he was being instructed! It takes years to reach the knowledge required to become a master!" Yang Xin was quick to make things more difficult for them.

"I agree, even if this child made the pills, which seems incredibly unlikely, bring forth the man that taught him. As you are the defendant, the onus is on you to supply a witness to clear you of this charge. If it is as you say, this child is merely the student of this Master. You should be able to produce this man or at least evidence of his deeds. Speak child, who is he?" Ordered one of the officers.

Nie Li was sweating bullets, how could he produce a Master? He was the Master! He could not understand how it had come to this, when Yang Xin had appeared at the auction house he knew that things had gone awry.

How was he supposed to know that someone had beaten him to releasing forgotten pills? Lord Voldemort will pay for this! He would just have to make up some random 'Master' and hopefully get off the hook.

Unfortunately, Yang Xin did not give him a chance. When Nie Li made up a description, she asked his Family if they had seen him. When they replied negatively, she had asked how a child could receive instruction from an unknown Master for years without their knowledge.

How had a dirt poor family of farmers, paid for a Master to teach their child without meeting him? It had to be kept a secret? Was the man a pedophile touching Nie Li inappropriately? Did this unknown Master also instruct him to have sex with the City Lord's daughter? Or was she involved?

Yang Xin was relentless, not forgetting to bring up the debacle with Ye Ziyun to muddy his character. In the end, all of Nie Li's excuses made him and his Family look guilty of colluding with someone to defraud the Immortal Elixir Guild after illegally obtaining the formulas.

The feud with Lord Voldemort was given as a possible reason as to why they had done this. Nie Hai was at his wit's end, he could see which way the officers were leaning. If they lost this case it would destroy their Family, they would have to sell all their land and it probably still wouldn't be enough!

"Nie Li, I beg you! Please just tell us who your Master is! This will destroy the Family! Is that what you want? Is this Master more important than your Family?" Nie Hai shouted.

Seeing the patriarch on the verge of tears, Nie Li could only come clean. Unfortunately, it made him look like he was lying.

"I lied, there is no Master. I found a book that had a complete guide to alchemy with thousands of recipes of pills long forgotten. I knew no one would believe me, so I made up a Master to hide behind." He said in a depressed manner, he was devastated seeing the looks his family were giving him.

"Where is this book, if you can present it I will drop all charges. When and where did you find it? How long have you been producing pills? Where did you get the money?" Yang Xin was quick to destroy him with questions. Shen Yue had told her he was an imposter that had taken over Nie Li's body, where was he going to find a complete guide to alchemy book?

After another hour of going around in circles, the Saint Judgement Hall officers had heard enough. This child and Family were clearly lying, if the child could make master level pills, then why are they still poor? How did he learn and how did they pay for materials for him to practice?

It was clear to all that they were guilty, did they think they were idiots? But the officers had to give credit to the patriarch, he really was a good actor. They had never seen a gold ranked expert produce so much snot and tears, this was dedication! He did not care for his reputation at all!

"It is clear to us that you are guilty. You have produced no evidence what-so-ever, other than an imaginary alchemy book and Master. If everyone could become a master after reading a book, then Glory City would be full of alchemy masters! We find the defendant guilty!" The middle officer called out.

"What is the price of the pills he tried to sell?"

"There were a thousand pills valued at a hundred thousand per pill!" replied the officer in charge of the case evidence.

"What! That is one hundred million demon spirit coins! The maximum penalty is to pay ten times the amount stolen or defrauded! Patriarch Nie Hai, what is your Family's total value?"

"Maybe nine million demon coins." Nie Hai really was crying now, his huge white moustache was dripping with tears and snot.

Yang Xin seeing that one of the three Families against her new husband was destroyed, was quick to tar the Snow Wind Family with the same brush.

"These destitute farmers obviously did not have the skill or money to set this plan up, maybe their allies the Snow Wind Family had a hand in this. How else was he able to afford the ingredients and that shiny new interspatial ring!" She said imperiously.

"You think that this is a scheme of the ongoing feud? It would make more sense than a mysterious alchemy book. Maybe your master belongs to the City Lord's family? Tell me boy, where did you get the money and that ring?"

With Nie Li judged liable, there were no longer impartial questions asked, what followed was a manhunt for the Heavenly Marks Family's mysterious Master. After all, the Hall received two percent of the guilty party's fine as court costs! A wealthy Snow Wind Family would be able to pay the fine.

Ye Ziyun was waiting for Nie Li, he was supposed to be here already, sharing the news of the success of their plan! She did not expect her parents and a pompously dressed official looking man to enter instead.

"Ye Ziyun, did you give Nie Li money?" Her father asked.

Seeing the look of apprehension on her face the Saint Judgement Hall officer preempted her lie with one of his own.

"You are not in trouble child, Nie Lie was accused of stealing the money and said you would back his claim that he received it from you."

Before Ye Zong could caution his daughter, she had already jumped to Nie Li's defence.

"Yes, I gave him five million to buy alchemy ingredients!" She said proudly, why she was proud of giving Nie Li money no one was quite sure, but the officer now sported a large, shit-eating grin!

With Ye Ziyun's admission to being complicit to Nie Li's actions, the Snow Wind Family was now on the hook for fraud as well.

Ye Zong wished at that moment that Ye Rou let him have anal sex with her, maybe then he would not have a daughter that bankrupted his family!


	24. Chapter 24

Shen Yue was barely containing his excitement. He had just finished upgrading all relevant techniques to combine into one mighty manual. The product of hundreds of hours of work gave him such a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that he had let out a shout of pure joy!

The new knowledge he had gained from the pendant was not too relevant to his cultivation technique, but it had strengthening and meditation techniques that were compatible with what he imagined his final cultivation skill required.

Seven days had passed in Glory City but fifty-eight days had passed for Shen Yue. He had tried to limit his sleep inside the realm too as little as possible, using the time he returned to Glory City to catch up on rest. This had mentally drained him to his limits, it was lucky he had thirteen years of determination to see this project through.

Making a copy of all the books he would merge, he couldn't help but gaze at the collection of body strengthening, cultivation, meditation, and concealing techniques. There were thousands of books and scrolls, nearly two months of work. With a weary but excited smile, he ordered his library to compile his ultimate manual.

The thousands of book that was just collected in the Library of Heaven's Path crumpled and slowly merged as one. There wasn't any name on the nondescript black book making it look unassuming. Shen Yue could not think of one worthy enough to describe the technique after he had looked through it.

\- The technique would allow him to contract twenty-nine demon spirit beasts, one for each variant of the seven main elements, plus neutral.

\- It was capable of training both his soul force and the strength of his physical prowess and stamina at the same time.

\- Physical strength tempered by Qi, producing a body resistant to tremendous damage as the cultivation level rises. Nourishes the body and stimulates the organs, removing all impurities to create a godly physique.

\- All meridians are forced open and are used to channel Qi, strengthening and enlarging the soul realm at a visible rate. Meridians are forced to absorb Qi, expanding and nourishing them to control the torrent of Qi passing through them.

\- Able to conceal one's destiny and cultivation status making it undetectable by others. The technique constantly evolves within the body merging with the cultivator to shield it from divination.

\- Due to nurturing all attributes simultaneously, the soul realm is forcefully changed into an amalgamation of all of them. He would then be capable of using any technique of all attributes.

\- Mental strength, soul control and strength simultaneously cultivated when practising technique.

\- Cultivates an oppressive Emperor's aura that grows with each level.

\- When he reaches the Heavenly Fate Realm, he will be able to use a Fate Soul to make nine permanent clones able to cultivate, one for each Fate Soul sacrificed. These clones will be subordinate to the main soul with a central mind controlling intelligent thralls.

\- Has the ability to efficiently absorb all forms of Heavenly Energy to enhance soul force.

There was a myriad of other small benefits, but the main ones were already enough for Shen Yue to be cackling like a demented psychopath. There was a bold note at the start of the book proclaiming the need for zero cultivation with a neutral soul realm to be able to succeed in this technique. Oh, it also mentioned lots of pain when building his foundation in the bronze realm. Apparently, soul realms don't like to be destroyed and rebuilt.

This was what Shen Yue had been worried about, the complexity of mashing all these techniques together, would not go well with a foundation made from a mix of different manuals. Only with a clean slate could he build an omnipotent cultivation technique as he had envisioned from birth. The immense agony he was about to endure only compounded the anxiety he felt thinking of his brain exploding from information overload.

All he could do was make himself comfortable and swallow five of his strongest Recovery Pills. With the only countermeasure he had, he activated his cultivation technique. Chanting profound truths of the universe while all his meridians were utilised to absorb Qi, felt absolutely amazing. He felt like his body had been blessed by a god, the rapture he felt must be why experts have no problems cultivating for days at a time.

His religious experience was quickly cut off as his soul realm absorbed enough soul force to advance to the bronze realm. The agony he felt replaced his chanting with soul splitting screams of torture. But like a giant vacuum, his technique had somehow kept operating on its own, sucking endless amounts of Qi into his soul realm. Then the knowledge hit him.

Shen Yue awoke to a horrendous smell. It smelt like burning hair, vomit and after grog bog, all combined into a cocktail of a stench worthy of torture. With a splitting headache, Shen Yue sat up to find himself covered in a smear of black paste producing the smell. It seems his breakthrough had released impurities from his body and boy were they impure.

Since his brain had not exploded and he was still alive, he exited the realm to share the smell with Su Mei. Hopefully, it would force her to order a bath readied so he could clean the filth off. With Mei gagging and yelling for all maids to quickly ready one, his plan had worked.

After draining the first bath after a brief scrub to remove the filth, Shen Yue was now relaxing in a nice hot scented bubble bath. Without the almost corporally stinging odour, he was free to examine the results of his breakthrough.

His Soul realm now held a Ying Yang symbol surrounded by twenty-nine balls of different colours. The Ying Yang symbol had grown, from the size of a coin to a basketball. It had also increased the speed it was rotating, releasing slightly more energy to nourish his body.

Now all he needed was to reach gold rank so he could build a slave seal and for the temporal vine to sprout. Releasing a Soul Crystal from his storage ring, he injected his soul force into it. Four hundred and ten soul force! He had directly jumped to a 4-star bronze rank! How long was his body absorbing Qi to stabilise his Soul realm after rebuilding it?

Shen Yue couldn't keep the smile off his face, he was now a Demon Spiritualist! Taking his first steps on the path of immortality, he would dominate this universe! First, he needed to sleep. Shen Yue was exhausted both mentally and physically. The massive influx of knowledge had taken its toll on his psyche, but he still had enough energy for a famous one-liner.

Turning to Mei that sat at the side of the three-meter bathing pool he looked at her seriously and said: "I know kung-fu!"

She just looked at him like he was an idiot. "Six-year-olds know kung-fu, young master, it is not very impressive."

Shen Yue could only cry tears of blood, how he missed people getting his jokes!

Yang Xin was having a great time. After Ye Ziyun had admitted to being a part of Nie Li's scam, the Snow Wing Family had to help shoulder the debt. One billion demon spirit coins was a lot of money, even for a dominant Family. Unfortunately, they had many assets to sell off to raise funds for the fine.

They had hundreds of black-gold demon spirits valued in the high hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Even though they could cover the costs, it hit them hard, losing properties and treasures to make up the difference. Losing forty percent of their total wealth did not sit well with the elders of the Family.

Yang Xin had used this opportunity to shop in the Snow Wind Family's treasure vaults. Shen Yue had provided her with a list of items that she was to try and get at all costs. Chief among them a particular mysterious golden beast egg. She also snatched up all inscription scrolls for cheap as they had decayed with time.

After giving Shen Yue an inventory of the loot they had obtained, he had her exchange the easily found black-gold demon spirits to the Saint Judgement Hall to make up their twenty million court costs. They were ecstatic to receive them and praised Yang Xin and Lord Voldemort as virtuous citizens of Glory City!

The only people that were not happy were the Heavenly Marks and the Snow Wind Families. The Heavenly Marks Family was allowed to keep their compound, but all their property was confiscated. They would have to rent the land from the Immortal Elixir Guild and would be at their mercy.

Nie Hai was currently staring daggers at Nie Li. He had brought their Family destruction in a week. As a red soul realm cultivator, it was already generous for the clan to send him to school for three thousand demon spirit coins a year. But instead of cultivating diligently, he was openly copulating and starting feuds with powerful Nobles!

"Yang Xin has agreed to rent our lands back to us if you were to make pills for forty hours a week. She will also soothe the feud between the Nemesis Family and us if you agree to not act against Lord Voldemort of Shen Yue in any way, shape or form. The moment you do, they will declare us oath breakers and blood will be spilt. This is non-negotiable. I have already signed the contract, and if you break it I will kill you and your family myself! Is that clear?" Nie Hai had lost his grandfatherly look and was staring at Nie Li like he was dog shit he had stepped in.

Nie Li was furious, he had not been treated this way in over two hundred years! For an insignificant gold rank to be treating him like a child and ordering him around, he was not going to be a medicine slave for Lord Voldemort!

It was at this point that Nie Ming, Nie Li's father, started laying into him his belt for not kneeling on the ground and begging forgiveness. Nie Ming did not know what was wrong with his son. When he had left for the academy two weeks ago, he had been a little boisterous but still followed the rules. Now he was an arrogant little shit that was unrepentant for destroying the Heavenly Marks Family!

Nie Ming would be educating him thoroughly over the next couple of days. By the time Nie Li walked into the Immortal Elixir Guild, he would be begging them to let him work there!


	25. Chapter 25

The next day, Shen Yue felt semi-human again. After a long soak in the steaming hot pool and a full body massage with a happy ending from Mei, he had fallen into a deep revitalising sleep.

With his body feeling invincible from reaching the 4-star bronze rank, he was ready to catch up on some overdue business. First on the list was the Sacred Family. Shen Hong had been at the top of his list of people to kill since he was old enough to walk. Shen Fei lusting after Ning'er was just the final straw.

Walking to meet his girls for breakfast, Shen Yue started plotting on how to handle the Sacred Family. In the end, he just decided to replace Shen Hon and purge the members he felt would tarnish the Family name. Shen Xiu would be a perfect candidate for the new head of the Family.

Gathered around the table was only Su Mei and Ning'er, he had not seen Ziyun since she started cultivating. Sending a maid to fetch her he then greeted his two lovely women.

"Morning! How has everything been?"

"Great, not going to school has given me time to cultivate to the 5-star bronze rank! My new cultivating technique is even better than the last one!" Replied an excited Ning'er. She had quit school at the same time he did after the scandal.

Shen Yue had compiled all the new Wind Lightning manuals compatible with her Winged Dragon soul form. The result was three times the progress for the same amount of effort. There was also the Tyrannical Dragon Aura that was cultivated along with her soul force, this would give her an advantage in battle.

"Wow, my Ning'er is getting strong! Don't forget to keep your strength hidden from outsiders, we don't want to draw the attention of the imposters. Yang Xin has dealt them a grievous blow that will have them lashing out at anything like a wounded animal." Shen Yue was quick to caution her as the results from the court case were better than he had hoped.

As they were eating and chatting idly, Ziyun came swooping into the room. She had grown much more comfortable with her new form it seems. "You wanted to see me?" Ziyun asked Shen Yue.

"Now that I have finished the delicate work in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, I was wondering if you would like to try and enter the realm. It would give you more time to cultivate and give you a chance to master the puppet's form."

"Really? Of course I want to, let's go!" Ziyun was excited to do anything that would hasten her recovering her body.

Even though only the owner of the pendant could enter the realm, there were a few exceptions. People were prohibited from entering unless they were already dead, or have a spiritual connection to Shen Yue! He was hoping to use these loophole to bring his inner circle into the realm for a head start on reaching the Heavenly Fate realm.

Because the laws of Tiny World did not allow one to reach the Heavenly Fate, breaking through in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal would bypass this. After all, this is what Nie Li did with the temporal book of cheats!

"This may not work, but if it does, you will have hundreds of hours to cultivate. I will only be staying for eight days at a time. But if you decide to stay, you will be stuck there for a hundred days." Explained Shen Yue.

With a nod from Ziyun's little bird head, he picked her up and entered the realm. Putting Ziyun on the ground next to the pond, he smiled at his success. When he developed his slave inscription at gold rank, he would be able to link his people's souls to his, bringing them here.

The Qi in the Violet Jade Immortal Realm was saturated, making the speed of cultivating maybe one and a half times faster. Even the water in the pool had a healing effect and assisted in cultivation. He would also be able to plant alchemy herbs in the surrounding land, but there was not much room at the moment.

It was then that Shen Yue remembered that he could upgrade the realm! Searching his memory of the story, it seemed to level up with each new woman he had sex with. Something about the merging of Ying and Yang to strengthen his spiritual energy. Damn, he should have taken the time to service Su Mei properly instead of just letting her give him a blowjob.

He would definitely be taking Ziyun with him now as he did not know what would happen if the realm advanced with her still here. Ning'er and Mei would be helping him enhance the space, but he better do it separately just in case one doesn't count.

After making his lewd plans, he settled in for a heavy cultivation session. Ziyun had already begun absorbing the Qi in the realm. Without the need to eat or sleep, she would be reaching legend rank pretty quickly. He would need to keep an eye on her mental state as a crazy woman was bad enough, let alone one that could destroy a city!

Shen Yue began chanting and absorbing the energy from heaven and earth. It was an intoxicating feeling, and he soon lost himself in it. Two days later and he came out of his trance as he advanced into the Silver rank. Shen Yue sensed his body's power increase with his soul force level.

Once again he was coated in black filth that scorched his nose hairs with its stench. Calling out to Ziyun, he told her that they were leaving. Even though she wanted to stay, he forced her to so the realm could be expanded with naughty activities.

With the promise of returning to the realm tomorrow, Ziyun went off to continue cultivating in her courtyard. Shen Yue went straight to the Bathing pool as he had already instructed his maids that it would be required.

After a bath and a large meal to fill the two days of not eating, an idea presented itself to solve two issues at once. He needed to expand the space inside the pendant and to deal with the Sacred Family. It was time to punish Shen Xiu for not believing in him, with immoral actions!

Shen Yue wrote an outrageous letter. It said if Shen Xiu was not at his mansion in two hours, then everyone in the Sacred Family will die. He gave it to a maid to deliver and waited for the result and left orders to lead Shen Xiu to his private courtyard when she arrived.

Not even an hour later and a fiery redhead barged in demanding that Shen Yue not do anything reckless. It was kind of cute how she still thought of him as a child to be protected. She was in for a surprise, he had quite the lustful thoughts about how this would play out.

"Shen Xiu, welcome to my home. It is six years overdue, but better late than never as they say."

"Little Yue, please don't do anything reckless. You do not know the power that Shen Hong commands! Please, I have tried to protect you as much as I can, coming here might even put you in danger!" An emotional Shen Xiu pleaded.

It was really touching how much she worried about him. Hopefully, it will transform into a different kind of love. Looking at the beautiful, sexy women, he reaffirmed his decision to make her his.

"Su Mei, show her your power."

Su Mei directly released her soul force and focused it on Shen Xiu. She was careful not to leak it out of the room, as they did not want to attract unwanted attention. Shen Xiu felt the pressure of a legend rank expert and the strength of it forced her to her knees.

Shen Xiu was only a 3-star silver rank demon spiritualist, an expert three realms higher could treat her like a child with aura alone. Shen Yue looked down at his panting aunt, her skimpy outfit allowing him a scenic view of luscious mountains. With a wave of his hand, Su Mei halted her soul force.

"Tell me, does that wrinkled old ball sack Shen Hong have legend experts?" Seeing Shen Xiu unable to answer as she was stupefied by Mei's power level, he continued.

"Shen Hong has not been able to touch me a month after I left that waste of a Family. Everyone he sent to retrieve me died at my peoples' hands. Even his Dark Guild flunkies have been wiped out from the City, not daring to enter anymore. Tell me aunt, what power does Shen Hong hold that could threaten me?"

Shen Yue had once again fallen into his evil overlord persona, talking down to Shen Xiu imperiously. For seven years his little aunt could have been by his side, but she had chosen to stay with the Sacred Family under some misguided sense of protecting him. He could have easily grabbed her like this, but he let things play out just in case he needed an 'in' to the Family.

Shen Xiu could not believe what her eyes were seeing, or her ears were hearing. Little Yue's maid was a legend rank expert! His maid! What about all his other men? She had heard he was close to Lord Voldemort recently because Shen Hong was jealous of the relationship. Maybe that was where he got them from?

He had even known about the Dark Guild! Shen Xiu was frightened of their strength as Shen Hong often bragged about their leader's power. She had also been privy to their designs to excite a beast horde attack against the City! She had wanted to warn Shen Yue, but it had become a moot point. The Celestial Brotherhood had decimated the beasts in under a week.

She started replaying Shen Hong's threats in her head, and they all started to sound hollow as if he was trying to convince her it was the right decision to stay. But before she could feel happy that her favourite nephew was no longer in mortal peril, his next words shocked her to her core!

"I'm afraid that you have to punished for your support of my enemies aunt Xiu. I had wanted you by my side since that day you took me to doctor Lu Wei, but instead, you folded to Shen Hong. You told him where I was allowing him to send a team to kidnap me! Yes, your crimes are great."

"No, I'm sorry Shen Yue! He told me that it was just a misunderstanding, that the doctor was out buying top grade medicine to treat you! I didn't know he was lying, he was my brother!" Shen Xiu started crying, remembering the feeling betrayal when Shen Hong revealed his duplicitous nature.

Gesturing to Su Mei, Shen Yue then gave his judgment to his now not so little aunt. "I realise that you were young and naive, but that doesn't excuse the next seven years. Your punishment is to drink this bottle of poison, if you can withstand the effects then you will be forgiven!"

Su Mei handed over a small vial of unknown liquid to Shen Xiu. Shen Xiu did not know what to think, she had not seen Shen Yue since he was an adorable little child. She could only pray that his character hadn't changed and that this was a simple test of faith!

Gathering her courage, she downed the contents of the vial with her closed eyes, as if trying to feel the efficacy of the poison. When no immediate corrosive essence was detected, she smiled, Shen Yue was just testing her resolve.

"I knew you wouldn't harm me! From now on I will support your Family, anything you need, I will try to help!" She said with a kind smile, relieved he didn't try to kill her.

"I'm afraid you are mistaken Shen Xiu. I want you to rule by my side as a wife, not a subordinate." Shen Yue was quick to let her know his real intentions.

"But we are family! I'm your aunt!" Shen Xiu was dumbstruck, she had no idea this was what he wanted. Suddenly, she felt her body heating, and strange urges rising.

"Are we? I never knew my mother, and I want my father dead, so where is the relation? No, I love you. You were the only good thing in the entire Sacred Family. So I decided you will become my wife and rule the Sacred Family as the new head. If you want to continue being my aunt, then all you have to do is resist the poison. If you want to be my wife, then give in and become mine!"

Shen Yue was being slightly evil. He had made this aphrodisiac himself, and there was no way a 3-star silver rank demon spiritualist could resist it. He had even added a sensitivity component to it, and judging from the slight moans she was making as she squeezed her legs together, it was working.

It was going to be a wild couple of hours before the potion lost its effects. Shen Yue wondered how she will react after regaining control of her lust? After all, her memory was not affected!


	26. Chapter 26

Shen Xiu didn't know what to think. She had just lost her purity and entered into womanhood at the age of twenty. Her little nephew that she believed she was protecting all these years had drugged her, and then proceeded to do things she had never thought her body could do!

He had tasted everything her body had to offer, and she was ashamed to say that she enjoyed every moment of it. Under the aphrodisiac's influence, she had experienced an odd mixture of pleasure and pain when her various virginities was taken.

After two hours of sin, he had then tenderly carried her to his bathing pool and proceeded to wash away the evidence of their lovemaking. She was mad at him for forcing this on her, but could also see his point that she would never have considered this in the first place.

Still, it would take some getting used to. When Shen Xiu thought about who could be a possible husband other than Shen Yue, she had drawn a blank. He was the only male she had a high opinion of, the rest of the males she knew were trash!

After the rice had been cooked and no other reason to refuse, Shen Xiu had relented and agreed to be his wife. Shen Yue had laughed and hugged her, promising that she would not regret her decision.

He had then filled her in on all his secrets, blowing her mind with the things he explained. She had just become the wife of the future overlord of the world! It had taken a couple of hours to get her up to date and fill her in on his plans for the Sacred Family.

She had sighed when he revealed his plan for Shen Hong, and although he was her brother, he had brought it on himself. With no need to return to the Holy Orchid Institute now that she was going to quit, they spent the next few hours catching up on what they had missed from each other's lives.

It was as if they had somehow reversed time, to when they were younger and would walk to school chatting idly, as they enjoyed each others company. Yes, Shen Xiu decided, she had made the right choice. Her new cultivation technique also went a long way for her forgiving him!

Shen Yue was glad that everything had worked out. It was a bit touch-and-go at one stage, but amazingly Shen Xiu had kept her calm and been talked into joining his harem. Luckily she had been raised with high standards and had no love interests.

He really needed to level up to the gold rank and activate that slave inscription soon! He was continually adding more unyielding and powerful women into a relationship that was not controlled by plot armour! He mentally put that as his next objective.

Shen Yue had sent out orders to gather his Family guards for tonight's operation. Thanks to Shen Xiu's intel, he now knew most of their property and any Family members that lived outside the main compound. Lin Feng had long since returned from the Nemesis Abyss Realm, leaving a trained Duan Jian in charge of maintaining order.

Tonight's plan of action was simple. Lin Feng would lead the main force to surround the Sacred Family compound, preventing anyone from leaving. Trusted senior officers would command strike teams, to silently take control of any outside assets. Hopefully mopping up the entire Family in one fell swoop.

Ziyun and Ning'er were not interested in the takeover of one of the most influential Families in the City. So it was only Su Mei, Shen Xiu and himself going along to beat Shen Hong like a redheaded stepchild. The optimum time to attack was 2 am as everyone but the guards will be at home sleeping. As it was still only early in the afternoon, that left plenty of time to do some recon and fine-tune the plan with his senior officers.

When it was time to attack, it was somewhat anticlimactic. The Sacred Family guards were lax, safe in their belief that no one would assault the powerful House. There were only twenty or so bronze and silver fighters patrolling the compound walls. They did not even have any demon spiritualists reinforcing the guard!

Within seconds they were overwhelmed without even raising the alarm. Lin Feng led five hundred legend experts on tonight's mission as Shen Yue didn't want any chance of failure. With the perimeter secure, they waltzed through the main gate and set about subduing each courtyard.

Lin Feng was instructed to knock everyone unconscious, remove any weapons and then secure them with ropes or chains. They were then brought to the main hall to be guarded with anyone that cause any trouble to be crippled without mercy.

There were three black-gold experts including Shen Hong, and they were given special care. If they could not be subdued quietly, then they were to be quickly killed. The exception was Shen Hong, he was to have his cultivation crippled but left alive.

Just as with the guards outside, almost everyone was cleaned up without drama. One of the people able to resist was Shen Yan, one of the black-gold experts. Unfortunately for him, he was only a fighter. As the ten-man team entered his courtyard and started subduing the servants, he was somehow made aware of the attack.

Five of the experts had been stealthily approaching his room when he smashed through his door leading with an attack. They had already merged with their demons in anticipation of the coming conflict. So when the savage looking redheaded Shen Yan came out of his room with a Flaming Palm skill already activated, he was attacked from all sides.

It was a crippled and gagged man that was deposited in the grand hall to be guarded. A once-feared man, now sobbing at the state of his broken body. More and more bound and gagged people of all ranks and genders were deposited in groups. No one was spared the humiliation of being trussed up like a slaughtered pig.

Shen Yue had been patiently waiting on the Sacred Family patriarch throne, staring at the defeated members that were brought before him. The pathetic crying and muffled pleading did not move him in the slightest. These were people that orchestrated the death of millions for no better reason than Shen Hong wasn't the City Lord.

Finally, the big bad Shen Hong was dragged before the throne, crippled and bound. His gagged mouth was spewing muffled obscenities, so Shen Yue decided to take some revenge. Careful not to overdo it, he started some cathartic beating. So as not to dirty his hands, Shen Yue removed a stick from his ring to beat Shen Hong like a dog.

After a good ten minutes of solid flogging, the defeated evil tyrant was silent. Shen Yue used this opportunity to remove his demon spirit. Since his pillage skill removed all soul-bound items, it was possible to extract an enemies demon spirit hiding in their soul realms. By the time he was finished, everyone had been captured.

Shen Yue placed the Sacred Flaming Condor spirit he had just obtained in his ring and sat back on the throne. Looking over the assembled prisoners, he gestured for his men to wake them. When everyone was attentive, he gave another of his Bond villain speeches.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the whipping and torture of my much-loved father! It seems like only yesterday that he beat me into unconsciousness and sent all those people to capture me.

I was content to let the Sacred Family limp its way towards its eventual death, but then my dear brother tried to take my woman. I could overlook all the Dark Guild plots and schemes, but there was no way that piece of trash was touching my Ning'er.

Tonight's festivities will include every one of you marked with a loyalty inscription. Since I am not a tyrant like my father, I will give you a choice if you want to accept it or not. Those that do will be part of a new Sacred Family led by She Xiu. Those that don't will be buried alongside their beloved leader Shen Hong and Shen Fei!

When you are grabbed by one of my men, you will either nod in acceptance or shake your head signalling death. Those that waste our time trying to trick the loyalty mark will enjoy a painful tortured send off!

It really warms my heart to be back where I was born, especially when we are here celebrating such a joyous occasion!"

Shen Yue thought his speech lent more towards a crazy Joker speech from Batman than a typical villain speech. Judging by the looks he was receiving, it seemed his men agreed with his assessment. Since he had taught his senior officers the loyalty inscription in preparation for his new slave techniques, the speed of people marked was many times faster than when he did it by himself.

Once a person was marked without the stone turning red, they were ordered to take up Shen Yue's stick and beat Shen Hong and Shen Fei once each. Out of the fifteen hundred or so people of the Sacred Family, three hundred died. Fifty-seven of these had to be tortured to death for wasting time and resources when the seal stone turned red.

It was a very cowed group of people that kneeled to pledge their allegiance to Shen Yue and Shen Xiu. The evidence of what awaited them if they even had a hint of betrayal would no doubt give them nightmares for years to come.

Since it was early morning, Shen Yue decided to go home to get some sleep. Leaving Shen Xiu to clean up and organise the surviving members into their new roles. She would also be making a list of people worthy to receive cultivation techniques.

Shen Yue had used this experience to try and temper his wuxia mentality. The muffled screams coupled with the muted sounds of brutality remained hard to get used too. He even delivered the final blow on those sentenced to death to harden his heart towards killing.

By any standard on Earth, he would now be judged a mass murderer or psychopath, and it was difficult to come to terms with it. Manslaughter was the norm in this brutal dog eat dog universe. But the morality and virtue he was raised with on Earth, could not be entirely destroyed.

In the end, he settled for somewhere in between and reaffirmed his mantra, 'Wealth and love to his people, destruction and pain to his enemies'. Although he would probably still flinch at killing another human being, the hundred or so he had murdered today had made it easier to force his emotions aside and do what was needed.

Hopefully, he will not turn into a monster that enjoyed it. Looking at the mangled bodies of Shen Hong and Shen Fei did not bring him any joy, he only felt satisfaction that the trash had been disposed of. Hopefully, a good sign.

Shen Yue could only hope he was still sane! But would he know if he wasn't?


	27. Chapter 27

Shen Yue awoke relaxed and ready to spend a solid week in his personal Realm cultivating. He needed to reach the gold rank as quickly as he could. Only after creating a fail-proof slave technique could he proceed with his next plans.

The only thing that could threaten him in the Tiny world were the few Spiritual Gods that had survived the endless conflicts between Demon Beasts and Humans. There were also those that had remained neutral like the Nether Lord.

Now that Shen Yue had the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal Pendant, he could circumvent the Tiny World's laws and let his men reach the Heavenly Fate cultivation level. But he was about to give that much power to someone that he could not control.

Others might believe in trusting people, but Shen Yue had seen first hand what humans were capable of. Nobody wants to be forever under someone else's command. If they were given a chance to start deciding their own future, they would take it! This could not happen, even his own wives were capable of suddenly turning love to hate and stabbing him in the back. There were countless cases of divorce and love tragedies involving betrayal.

No, Shen Yue would be giving them no chance at changing their minds. Although this would be taking their free will away, who cares? They were now his wives and as chauvinistic as it sounds, this was par for the course in this universe. He would still love them, even if their thoughts were influenced by his technique, they would not know any better.

Shen Yue suddenly laughed, if someone from Earth heard his thoughts he would instantly be labelled with terrible names such as a rapist or fascist. But who cares? They say that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, he could totally agree with this maxim. Shen Yue had already found that his actions were becoming more egocentric and ruthless. By wielding the ability to decide the fate of millions of people, it had diminished his morality from Earth.

With Heavenly Fate experts under his control, they would be able to subdue all of Tiny World. His first obstacle would be Zhu Long, Spiritual God of Ice, and the strongest Demon Beast in the Divine Continent. The novel described him as concealing himself from the Lord of Nether until he can fully grasp his Power of Law, which is manifested as seven lotuses.

Shen Yue could only think of his seven ice lotuses as his fate souls, giving him the rank of a 7-Fate Heavenly Fate expert. When he became a Spiritual God, he already had the power to kill over three hundred legend rank experts. Now that he had been training for thousands of years there was no way any amount of legend ranks could kill him.

But hundreds of Heavenly Fate Realm experts were a different matter. Although none of them would be his equal in might, Shen Yue had heaps of ways to use them to defeat Zhu Long. After all, why would you waste resources of a Spiritual God? Nie Li used the Demon Spirit Devouring Technique on low-quality demon spirits, imagine the power he could extract from a God?

But first Shen Yue needed to reach the gold rank. With a storage ring full of supplies, he once again entered the realm with Ziyun. As he had anticipated, the area had expanded. There was an additional tree, and the pond and land had doubled in size.

After the first level of the spatial realm has been unlocked, there was an energy-enhancing tree which will bear ten fruit every hundred years. Each of the fruit would be able to grant a human an additional two hundred and fifty kilos of strength. However, the effects would be useless after the consumption of two of them.

As for the second level, there would be an agility-enhancing tree, which will also bear ten fruit every hundred years. Each of the fruit would be able to increase one's original speed by fifty percent and was able to be used as an alchemy ingredient.

A person would only be able to enjoy the permanent increase in speed and agility of consumption of two fruits. However, if you eat a third fruit, then your swiftness will increase by another fifty percent for fifteen minutes.

Unfortunately, these fruits were not heaven-defying and could only alter a mortal body. Otherwise, Shen Yue would wait until reaching a higher Dao of Dragon realm and then double his speed! But the better his foundation, the easier it will be to cultivate. So without fear of wasting resources, he ate two of each fruit.

Shen Yue could immediately feel the energies cleansing his body and letting him feel both stronger and lighter! Taking a step forward, he noticed that his sense of balance was off. He would have to spend some time later to regain his coordination, but first, he would increase his rank by a few stars!

Two hundred hours passed in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal and Shen Yue Felt like he was invincible. He had reached the fifth star of silver rank! Even Ziyun had strengthened her soul to the equivalent of a black-gold expert! Although Ziyun didn't have to worry about cultivating her body.

He did not know why it took Nie Li and his friends so long to reach the gold rank. After all, with a powerful technique, they were able to absorb Qi faster than others. To reach silver rank only needed five hundred soul force and gold required five thousand!

Higher levels would take longer, but the novel makes it seem as if accumulating the million soul force needed for each legend star, takes as long as reaching silver rank! Even with the need to condition the body and meridians to accept the flow of Qi, this difference seems ludicrous.

He could understand that with practice and tempering the body that the flow rate would increase, but it seemed that the author might have drawn it out for the plot. After all, millions of people could not even reach gold rank with the trash techniques available.

The only reason Shen Yue had not reached the gold rank already was because of the complexity of his technique. Not only did he need to gather soul force, but it needed to be divided evenly between all of his elements! It almost seemed as if he had twenty-nine separate little mouths devouring the Qi he had accumulated.

Exiting the realm with Ziyun, he was about to retreat to his bathing pool to rewind and relax for the rest of the day, when he was informed by Mei that he had a visitor waiting. It seemed that now Ye Ziyun had officially dumped him, he was back on the market as the most eligible groom. Huyan Lanruo was the bravest one of those eyeing him.

Luckily she had only arrived twenty minutes ago, so Shen Yue had Mei keep her entertained while he quickly washed off a week's dirt. By the time he reached the grand hall where they were waiting, the women had entered into a chilly mood. It seemed that their two personalities clashed and they developed an instant dislike for each other.

Not bothered too much by their mood, Shen Yue sized up the pink haired beauty. She certainly fit the description of the most beautiful and sexy girls of the younger generation. With an ample bosom and revealing clothes, she was definitely his type.

The novel described her as very upfront, bold and with a short temper. It seems that she is a bit spoiled and pampered by her father, who has difficulty controlling her. Because of her personality, her father has never been able to marry her off, and she has become used to getting everything she wants.

This didn't bother Shen Yue in the slightest, as he was only a day away from being able to curb her emotions with his slave technique. In fact, he was hoping she would try and influence him with her Snow Sakura demon beast, giving him a reason to act!

"I'm sorry I took so long. I'm afraid you caught me training and I had to make myself presentable so as not to give offence to such a beauty."

Giving Su Mei one last icy stare, Huyan Lanruo turned her attention to the talk of the City. Rumours of his allure seemed to be justified as she took in his flawless complexion and long, glistening blue-black hair, still wet from bathing. He was quite tall for a thirteen-year-old, almost looking like he was the same age as her!

It seems that she had not wasted a trip. Hopefully, she will be able to charm the rich, pretty boy before any others can. If only that tiresome housemaid left, she didn't want her interrupting when she started seducing Shen Yue. This is the reason she didn't bring any guards.

"Hello Shen Yue, my name is Huyan Lanruo. I was sorry to hear about the disgraceful behaviour of Ye Ziyun and thought that you might need some comfort after this unhappy incident. I hope that I have not intruded!" She said with a seductive voice.

"No, not at all. I was using the pain to concentrate on training, so a break to relax with you will be welcomed." Shen Yue said as if enticed by her beauty.

Seeing his obvious attraction towards her Lanrou thought that maybe this wouldn't be as hard as she thought. Her uncle Huyan Ming, a master alchemist that had transferred to the new alchemy guild, had cautioned her on her approach to seducing Shen Yue. But he had also given his blessing to catch the only person in the City with a personal relationship to Lord Voldemort.

After two hours of inane chatter and practically exposing her body, she had only been able to make him slightly blush. He did not lay a single hand on her or make any confessions of undying love! Her only win was sending the maid out with a reason for a more private conversation. To not be able to seduce this boy with her sexy body was inconceivable!

After she had forcefully made a move and kissed him, he had put her at arm's length and asked her to maintain a composure befitting a maiden! This had been too much for Lanruo, she had never been denied! She was the one always turning down drooling boys, not the other way round!

Losing control of her emotions, she summoned her Snow Sakura demon spirit and used its charming abilities against Shen Yue. She had forgotten the warnings of her uncle and tried to ensnare the patriarch of the Nemesis Family in illusions.

Unfortunately, this is what Shen Yue was waiting for.


	28. Chapter 28

Shen Yue started to feel the urge to ravage the enchanting Goddess in front of him, it was an almost physical need! If Huyan Lanruo had come before he had reached the 5-star silver rank, he would have fallen under this siren's spell.

Luckily, his cultivation was three stars above Lanruo's, he was barely able to keep his composure. Well, his manhood had taken this time to make itself known. Knowing that she had finally acted against him, he had all the justification he needed to carry out his lewd plans.

Calling out for Su Mei who had been waiting at the door, he had her follow his previous instructions. Huyan Lanruo barely had any time to register that her demon spirit had been resisted before she was knocked unconscious.

Even though Shen Yue was slightly drained from a week of cultivating, Huyan Lanruo came at a perfect time for him to raise the Violet Jade Immortal realm's level. Her virginity would be sacrificed to the lewd pendant for more benefits.

They had relocated to Shen Yue's private courtyard where Su Mei had forced the modified Enchanting Passion Powder down Lanruo's throat. She had also removed her clothes so there would be no damage when she tried to rip them off in her need for Shen Yue.

All in all, it went precisely as Shen Yue planned it. Huyan Lanruo was only experienced in flirting with boys, she had not even been kissed before. So when she was drugged with a powerful aphrodisiac, she had no resistance and could only be toyed with by him.

Shen Yue tasted everything her supple, luscious body had to offer. In her desperate need to gratify herself, Lanruo would shout out anything he told her to say, debasing herself to have her urges satisfied. It was safe to say that when she sobered up, it was as a woman that had lost her innocence.

When Huyan Lanruo regained control of herself, she started immediately crying. Shen Yue knew the fun was over and could only look at his handy work with satisfaction. He had gone a bit overboard in his humiliating her but had not harmed her in any way.

"Why did you do this to me, you raped me! You will never get away with this!" Huyan Lanruo sobbed out in rage.

"What are you talking about? Tell me, is altering someone's emotions and forcing them to act differently than they usually would, rape?"

"Of course it is! Idiot, that is the definition of rape!" She yelled, tears forgotten in her anger.

"What ability does your demon spirit have?" Said Shen Yue calmly.

Suddenly Huyan Lanruo didn't know what to say. Did Shen Yue know of her demon spirit's ability to charm people? His smirk told her that he did! It was at this moment that she remembered her uncle's warning, anyone associated with Lord Voldemort would be formidable. Now his actions made sense, he had been baiting her in using her technique!

"It seems you realise just what you have done. To use a mind-altering demon spirit to attack a patriarch in his own compound has signed your death warrant. Now tell me, why have you come here? Oh, and if you lie to me, you will not leave here alive." Said Shen Yue with a menacing smile.

Huyan Lanruo had broken the law, and now her fate was in his hands. She will definitely harbour resentment for being raped but come tomorrow, that will no longer be a problem. It was at this moment that Shen Yue thought he might be overdoing it on the raping and pillaging. It had become his go-to move lately, and it worried him slightly. He was still within the law, but he did acknowledge he had to treat his future wives a bit better.

Huyan Lanruo knew that she had lost the moral high ground, her demon spirit was a rapist's dream spirit. But in the end, it did not matter if you were a man or a woman, using mind-altering effects with sexual inclinations was rape. With the seriousness of the situation, she could only swallow her pride and speak honestly her reasons for coming here.

"I came to seduce you and secure a marriage between us. I want to use the power of your relationship with Lord Voldemort to gain a cultivation technique." She said in defeat.

Shen Yue laughed, which upset Huyan Lanruo even more, "This is no problem, consider yourself my wife. Tomorrow night you can come here and receive a cultivation technique capable of entering into the legend rank within six months."Said Shen Yue amused, technically her plan had worked, but she had got more than she bargained for!

Huyan Lanruo didn't know what to think. She was sore from orifices never being touched, to being forced to accommodate a massive meat stick. The whole time she had been under the drugs affects had been sensational, with her never knowing such pleasure. The after effects were painful, but she could not help but still feel aroused as she sat there covered in bodily fluids.

She had accomplished her goal but had only wanted him to kiss her, maybe inappropriately touch her, so she had a reason to force him into marriage. Huyan Lanruo knew that ultimately she would have to become one with Shen Yue, but the things he made her do...

Her grandfather always told her that 'Spilt water is hard to recover', so she may as well make the most of the situation. Now that she had been sullied by Shen Yue, Huyan Lanruo would become his wife and gain immense power with his resources. But she would never forget this day of humiliation!

Shen Yue called a maid to attend Huyan Lanruo and send her home. He did not bother being courteous as he had been with Shen Xiu, as Huyan Lanruo had no love for him. She had the intention to use him for her own benefit, a pity that he had thought the same.

He had felt unfamiliar energy transferring into Huyan Lanruo and then being absorbed again during their session of lust. He could only assume that this was the Violet Jade Immortal realm upgrading.

With another wife and an upgrade to his personal cultivation realm, Shen Yue went to get some sleep. It would be another long week of cultivating to reach the gold rank tomorrow.

It was on the second day inside the realm that he advanced to the gold rank. Once again, impurities were expelled from his pores. Unable to concentrate with the smell, he retreated to the bath his maids had prepared. Once clean he reentered the realm.

It was time to create his slave techniques. The first one would be able to link all his wives to his soul realm and the second would be to control his soldiers and servants. One a personal way to monitor those close to him, the other, to make sure his higher ranked subordinates stayed loyal.

Gathering the appropriate manuals in his library, Shen Yue made a copy and then compiled them into a technique to link his wives to his soul realm. It was a technique that would target an unconscious person and partially draw their soul out to be marked. He would then inscribe a seal onto their soul that linked to a permanent inscription seal he would create in his soul realm.

This seal would then be capable of killing the target instantly, causing extreme pain or pleasure, even controlling their emotions and thoughts. It didn't matter what cultivation realm they could train too, if they created multiple fate souls, they would all have a link to the inscription seal.

With the link to their seal in his soul realm, he could influence their cultivation speed or help if attacked by a foreign source. Shen Yue could direct soul force through the link to improve their cultivation or siphon of a dangerous influx of energy.

It was similar to the soul array used by Nie Li but had the added benefit of being able to add members to the group. The only problem was being separated between dimensions cut off the link. But all changes made to the target were permanent, so there was no concern that their personality would suddenly change, and he would have a vengeful woman on his hands!

With his 'Marriage Seal' complete it was time to clean up his subordinate seal stones. It was a hassle checking thousands of stones each night to check if one had turned red. He needed a seal that could have a link to his officers and allow them to manage slave inscriptions of their subordinates. This was pretty similar to his 'Marriage Seal', but without the soul array, he did not want that personal link to men!

After taking out any books that would create an array, he once again compiled a technique. This technique came in two parts. One that would allow him to bind and influence his officers, and one for his officers to use that would have the same effects as the seal stone inscription currently in use.

He didn't want his officers to be able to dominate his men's minds, but he left the kill switch in for any traitors. This seal could not be removed without Shen Yue, so there was no chance of a rebellion after their cultivation had reached a high level. Even the officers that placed the seal would not be able to remove it.

With a clear command structure, it was time to streamline his army. Su Qiang would be left in charge of everything to do with Tiny World. After he became the City Lord, the majority of the population in the Nemesis Abyss would be used to seed the surrounding area to start the growth of his new Cities.

His wife, Zhang Jing, would be in charge of the Maid Guard and would be responsible for policing the Cities. A beautiful police force would keep the population in check and weed out any malcontents. There would be a lot more information gathered by beautiful women than burly men!

The Nemesis Abyss realm would just be used to send prisoners to mine the minerals and farm the fields. With these two in charge, and with trusted people to help them, Shen Yue could leave Tiny World without worries.

Of Course, he would have to raise his officers' strength first. The Spiritual Gods would be sure to squash them if they were found out while expanding. The Nether Lord told Nie Lie that he was always watching over Glory City for a friend, but he had let it be destroyed by the demon beast horde in the original timeline.

Shen Yue did not trust him, and would definitely be raising enough strength to check him if he had any ill intentions with his world. There was no way that the Nether Lord would not try to expand into the fertile Tiny World if the danger had passed.

Even though the subsidiary realms could have combined to retake Tiny World long ago, they had given it to the demon beasts and abandoned the humans still trapped there. As far as he was concerned, the world now belonged to him, and he would not be letting them gain a foothold!

Shen Yue would not be getting a soul seal of a master/student from the Nether Lord! He would be entering the portal to the Draconic Realm as a free man. He was the one that put soul seals on other people, not have them put on himself!

He still had the intention of joining the Skysoul Institute under the Divine Feathers Sect. After all, why would you go somewhere else when you had foreknowledge and background information? If the Nether Lord tried to stop him, then he didn't mind adding another realm to his empire.

Shen Yue condensed his two new slave seals into his soul realm, strengthening them with his soul force. The seals took different shapes, one a jewelled crown and the other a white dove in a golden cage. That was a bit incriminating, but only he would see it so it would not matter.

He spent the rest of his time cultivating until it was time to leave when two hundred hours had passed.


	29. Chapter 29

Shen Yue had spent the day adding his wives and the compound's staff to his new slave seals. With his advanced cultivation, he no longer had to take breaks in between inscribing seals. With the use of a fast-acting sleeping drug, he had now linked them to the seals in his soul realm.

Surprisingly, the men serving in the compound had few negative thoughts about him. Other than the usual complaints of wanting time off to go to the pub, they were mostly praising him for their new lives. Extending someone's lifespan and making them supernaturally strong went a long way into keeping your people happy.

He ended up removing any need for them to rebel by reinforcing their positive view of him and gave them an urge to notify him of anything that upset them. Shen Yue thought that if they came to him with any problems, then he would know of his men's grievances and they would not bottle it up until he was forced to kill them for traitorous actions.

The maids were a different problem. They had been 'trained' into treating Su Mei as their mistress and Shen Yue as their god. Su Mei had been using the aphrodisiac he modified to brainwash the maids into passionately worship an image of himself.

She had restrained them, dosed them, and then subjected them to a doctrine reinforced by climaxing when they recited the 'word of god' fervently enough for her to believe it. This was repeated until Su Mei was satisfied that they were now believers in their new god, but only passed them if they trained a disciple of their own! This had created a church of sex maids that literally begged to serve him!

Reading their thoughts was a little scary, but it also excited him. He now knew why they were so passionate when Su Mei brought them to his bed, it was the ultimate reward for their church! He had always wondered at the looks his maids gave him, he had just thought he was too handsome.

Shen Yue's appearance was mesmerising. His cultivation enhanced it by many levels, turning him into a pretty boy the likes of which this world had never seen. He wondered if this is how Venerable White from the Cultivation Chat Group felt.

Now that he knew there were thousands of women out there brainwashed into worshipping him, the only thing he could think of was how fucking awesome Su Mei was! Yeah, she was slightly crazy with a dominatrix fetish, but she had literally turned him into a Sex God, worshipped by beautiful women that wanted to serve him in and out of bed. When he looked into her mind, he was amazed at what he found.

When she was serving in the inn he had first met her in, she had feared that she would end up either a prostitute or married to a poor commoner. She was only pretty, not beautiful enough to attract the attention of a Noble for anything other than a quick lay. Shen Yue had taken her in with the promise of supporting her family and raising her position up alongside himself.

With him being as cute as he was and with his ability to memorise books, she knew that he would be an influential person in the future. This galvanised her need to serve him, but also make sure that the women around him treated him with the same amount of respect that she felt for him. Unfortunately, her perverted nature corrupted the pure feelings she started off with, but Shen Yue was happy with the end result!

Who didn't want beautiful women chasing them? Shen Yue had now stepped into the realm of perverted trash. Just yesterday, he was trying to curb his god complex and his rape-happy nature, then he discovered he had a cult of women dedicated to him. How was he supposed to limit his urges when shit like this happened? It was official, he had turned into a sexual deviant. Fuck it, he would just embrace it. Anyone with a problem with it would just have to deal with it.

Shen Yue was quick to rein in Su Mei's more sadistic needs and filtered out her more radical personality. He still kept most of her perverted nature, because let's face it, it was hot as hell! With this, Su Mei would not 'train' his wives and hopefully keep her church from getting out of control.

The only other disturbing thing he found, was Ziyun's obsession in getting her body back. This was understandable, but the cost would end up being her sanity. With a few adjustments, Ziyun would calm down and socialise more with her new sister-wives. Shen Yue thought it would not be wise to send her to the Brotherhood to kill things so he would be keeping her close. All his other wives were pretty good, and he only had to add in feelings of sisterhood between the other wives.

When Huyan Lanruo arrived, he explained the entire situation to her after she was marked. She was now aware of the Tiny World's circumstances and her new position in it. To say she was happy was an understatement. She had thought she was just marrying Shen Yue to get close to Lord Voldemort. Now she found out his real identity as the owner of the three great organisations and an unheard of Abyss realm!

It was interesting to see the effect this had in her opinion of Shen Yue. Before he was just an arsehole that had raped her but was giving her power. After she found out she was now married to the most influential man in Glory City, suddenly he was just a bit forceful in their lovemaking! It only took a bit of meddling to bring her to the same loyalty as his other wives.

It was a bit of an eyeopener seeing into the psyche of a woman from an ancient civilisation. He had forgotten that girls were regularly sold to feed the family or arranged into marriages for benefits. Just another reason to ignore his Earth beliefs on acceptable opinions of women's virtues. Even though there were many powerful women cultivators, this universe still had a chauvinistic view of them.

Su Mei, Ye Ziyun, Xiao Ning'er, Yang Xin, Shen Xiu and Huyan Lanruo were also given updated techniques for their cultivation. With all the new information he had obtained from Nie Li, he could now compile a manual that was suitable for their soul form and attribute. Unfortunately, because they had already started cultivating, he could not make them one as overpowered as his.

Still, because they had not broken through to the Heavenly Fate realm, they could yet practice parts of his technique. Shen Yue only had to use manuals compatible with their soul form and attribute coupled with all his physical, mental and concealing skill books. The result was watered down technique similar to his.

They would now be able to hide their cultivation, but it was not to the same level as Shen Yue. It would deceive the Sage-Emperor when he calculates the natural law, the skill he uses to find anyone that could oppose him, however, if a Martial Ancestor level expert were to examine them, their strength would be exposed.

Their mental strength, physical strength, soul force and control will now simultaneously be cultivated. They will also develop an aura depending on their soul form, giving them an advantage in battle. With the massively increased speed of soul force absorption, they were sure to rise through the ranks quickly.

With their Qi changing to their attribute element, they would find absorbing law energy much smoother. Of course, they would not be becoming Spiritual Gods, but using the power of law would raise their combat level drastically.

After reinforcing his guard's loyalty, tempering the maid's brainwashing and arranging for his wives to be powerful, patient and tolerant of each other, Shen Yue made plans to begin converting all of his officers to his Emperor seal in his soul realm. To do that he would need to visit the Abyss realm and meet his army.

Once someone has been linked to his soul realm through the crown slave seal, it was enough of a loophole to let them access the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. This would allow him to train his men fast enough to break through to the Heavenly Fate realm. Over the next few days, he would be marking and then teaching his men in Glory City, the Heavenly Fate Plateau and his Family's land to the east. His Abyss realm would take at least two weeks to mark his many veterans.

Yang Xin returned to the Immortal Elixir Guild to do the same there. Listening to Shen Yue's future plans to leave the Tiny World, she would need to choose a reliable vice guild master.

The next week was a whirlwind of activity for the inhabitants of Glory City. People were rethinking their views on what the City Lord's responsibilities were. They were fortunate to only survive in this harsh world full of demon beasts, but now they were shown a life full of possibilities! The City was endlessly talking about Lord Voldemort's proclamation, and the discussions were not describing the Snow Wind Family's reign with positive remarks.

Ye Zong was preparing the Snow Wind Family's campaign to remain as the City Lord, but they were delving into unfamiliar territory. The previous City Lords only had to protect Glory City, not deal with the people's problems, that's what the law was for! While Ye Zong was thinking of ways to placate his subjects, Ye Ziyun had received a note from Nie Lie stating his new responsibilities to manufacture pills. She had finally realised how much of an unfair advantage Lord Voldemort had.

She had used every waking moment to cultivate, reaching the peak of bronze rank! With her latest blunder, the only thing keeping her from being beaten by her mum was the speed she was rising through the ranks. She had planned to keep a low profile, but that had been thrown out the window after she had cost the Family a billion demon spirit coins!

That night her mother had actually spanked her! Ye Rou was a gold rank expert, and it was clear she knew how to control her strength to create maximum suffering. After the first few smacks, Ye Ziyun had called out her cultivation level in the hope to be spared further pain. It had taken a few more beatings, but eventually, she had won a reprieve from punishment.

Since that day she had spent every waking moment absorbing soul force and thinking of ways to undermine the Clown's power base. She had asked her father everything he knew about him, but there was nothing she could think to exploit. All his members were practically black-gold rank experts and could crush the City's army.

Nie Li was currently tied up making pills and had told her to reach legend rank as fast as she could while he did the same. She knew from the novel that there would be roughly nine months before the portal to the Draconic realm opened and that would be there only chance to break free from the Clown's influence.

That or they could go to the Nether Lord for support. With Nie Li's knowledge, they could probably bargain some aid, but it would cost them their allegiance. She knew they would have to choose a master to enter the Draconic realm anyway, so it wasn't much of a trade-off. One thing was clear, they would need to reach at least black-gold rank before even thinking about leaving the City.

With the Clown's changes to canon, the beast horde would no longer happen, and the Sacred Family had lost a lot of power. Even the Dark Guild's activities had all but ceased. But the problem was the one benefitting the most was Lord bloody Voldemort! The people had been discussing nothing else since the past few days.

Ye Ziyun had made two damaging mistakes since she had arrived in this world. There was nothing in the Abyss Prison realm that could help them so she would not be going there. Since all her moves were blocked by the idiot from Earth, then she will keep her head down and raise her strength. Only after reaching the black-gold level could they have enough power to bargain with the Nether Lord.

Let's see how the Clown will fare against a Spiritual God!


	30. Chapter 30

Shen Yue had a productive week. He had raised the Violet Jade realm to the fourth level but had hit a wall in advancing to the fifth. He vaguely remembered that his cultivation and mental strength also had to be raised to level up the realm. Even after bedding Su Mei, Xiao Ning'er, Yang Xin and three maids, it remained at the fourth level.

Shen Yue could feel the foreign energy increasing his mental strength each time he engaged in sex, but after the first time with each partner, the results were negligible. He really wished Nie Li had read more techniques in the Temporal Demon Spirit Book. A dual cultivation skill would suit his tastes and reward him for engaging in the already pleasurable activity of coitus.

The stone monument listed the new rewards he had received since Huyan Lanruo joined his harem.

Third Level:

\- Defense Enhancing Fruit Tree -

Will bear 10 fruits every 100 years.

Each fruit will increase one's defence by 250 kg of force.

Each person can only consume 2 fruits.

Can be used as an alchemy ingredient.

\- A 5,000-Year-Old Golden Medicinal Turtle -

Can extract blood for the purpose of alchemy or medicine.

\- Drunken Fragrance Tree -

Ripens every ten years, producing 100 Drunken Fragrance Fruits.

Can be used for cooking, creating of condiments.

Fourth Layer:

\- Realm expanded to 850m diameter, with the pond now being 50 metres long.

\- Can spend four hours inside the spatial realm a day.

\- Tree of Physicality -

Will bear 10 fruits every 100 years.

Each fruit will increase one's lifespan by 50 years.

Each person can only consume 2 fruits.

Can be used as an alchemy ingredient

\- A 1,000-Year-Old Clam -

Can be tapped for its blood to make medicine.

\- A 10,000-Year-Old Chinese Parasol Tree with a Phoenix on top -

A fiery bird with a diluted Phoenix bloodline. Obedient to the Sovereign of the realm.

\- One Perilla Bush -

100 leaves can be harvested every 10 years.

-One Thyme Bush -

100 leaves can be harvested every 10 years.

Shen Yue was amazed at the list of rewards for his new levels. It seemed the creator of the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal was a fan of cooking. Why else was he suddenly receiving herbs and spices used to flavour food? The cooking ingredients aside, he really had to apologise to the Earth skank for his earlier comments.

The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal was a first-rate system that would be the cornerstone in creating his army of Heavenly Fate experts. With the time dilation, Shen Yue and his men could spend four hundred hours a day cultivating in an environment overflowing with Heavenly Energy compared to the Divine Continent. That was sixteen days of training condensed into each day!

The Tiny World had very sparse Heavenly Energy, forcing the natives to practise with the power of law to become Spiritual Gods. This was a much harder and slower process than ordinarily comprehending the anatta mental state and absorbing the Power of Heaven to form a Fate Soul. The difference in strength was also vastly inferior at higher levels.

With his new upgraded personal realm, he crammed thousands of people in to meditate. It got a bit tight, but when everyone could bring food out of a storage ring, there was no need for cooking areas. Although going to the toilet was an issue, keeping thousands of people in one area got a bit messy. Shen Yue had partitioned off a section for the restrooms, ordering his men to collect their waste in their rings to be disposed of when they left the realm.

It was a pity he could not just leave the men in there to train while he keeps binding more soldiers, but unfortunately, they were kicked out of the realm when he was. The only exception was Ziyun, who had spent over two years inside the Violet Jade Immortal Realm. She was at the peak of legend rank but was finding it hard to harmonise with Heavenly Energy by sensing the Heavenly Dao. It was possible that her puppet body was affecting her mindset. Her soul strength was immense, and she had practised her control to a high level.

Shen Yue had banned her from the realm to give her time to adjust. When they entered the Abyss Realm, he would alter her mental state through the soul realm seal and help her breakthrough. He dearly wanted to hold her, comforting her physically to remove the trauma of being disembodied. She was the one that suffered most since Nie Li got his future memories. Once they were in the Abyss Realm, there would be no problem when she regained her body.

The main thing that had excited Shen Yue about his Realm levelling was the addition of his new pet! He had compiled a beast taming skill from all of his taming manuals, including the Soul Brand technique that Nie Li used on Jindan, the egg he had gained from the Snow Wind Family treasury. The result was similar to his Emperor Seal that he used to bind his men.

When Shen Yue formed the new inscription seal inside his soul realm, it took on the shape of a dog collar when he manifested it with soul force. Shen Yue had then bound the Phoenix with the newly created inscription seal using his blood. The seal would allow him to mentally communicate and control the beast, making the already loyal bird the perfect companion.

The Phoenix was at the legend rank but had yet to activate its spiritual wisdom. This had been easily fixed with his Library's powers instructing him how to awaken it. When Shen Yue injected soul force into its soul realm, he was able to stimulate the fiery bird of myth into gaining spiritual wisdom.

The bird's mental voice was that of a child that only had a basic vocabulary. It had taken him many hours to teach it to a level suitable to understand simple conversations. During the Phoenix's training, he had come to learn that it was female and had decided to give it the simple name of Blaze. Now that he could communicate easily with her, he had taken the next inevitable step, teaching Blaze to cultivate!

There were millions of demon beasts that had gained spiritual wisdom and stepped onto the path of cultivation. They had banded together to create three cultivation sects to oppose humans. Equipped with this knowledge, Shen Yue had spent over forty hours to devise a cultivation technique suitable for Blaze, sure that he would succeed. Even though demon beasts could only become fighters, they had their own unique bloodline abilities. While she circulated her new cultivation technique, Shen Yue used his acupuncture skills to stimulate Blaze's bloodline by opening all of her meridians.

This led to a massive build-up of energy and flames, causing Shen Yue and his men retreat back to Glory City. While Blaze screeched in agony atop the Ten Thousand Year Old Chinese Parasol Tree, her body was undergoing a fiery transformation. The later generations of the Ancient Phoenix possessed only a hint of the Phoenix bloodline, not enough to unlock all of its innate abilities. Blaze's blood was currently undergoing an alteration, purifying the bloodline until it reached twenty-five percent!

The gigantic flaming red bird visibly increased in size, reaching a wingspan of fifteen metres. It released a powerful blazing aura that managed to set the ancient tree on fire, even though it was the Phoenix's natural resting place. After hours of emitting a furious firestorm, the flames died down to reveal a tired but majestic bird with gleaming red feathers. Above its head, the beginnings of a phoenix crown became faintly visible.

Shen Yue did not return until the next day, afraid of getting engulfed by fire. When he entered the realm, everything had mostly recovered from being singed by the heat. He had already plucked all the fruit from his trees, so he was not too afraid of the damage to the area. Safe in the belief that the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal would be able to handle Blaze's level up.

The Chinese Parasol Tree had changed, its once green leaves now outlined in a deep red. It appeared that being scorched by intense fire had improved its fire immunity and changed its attributes. Blaze had screeched out in greeting, her tone joyous as she had accomplished something that her kin had not for eons. She had unlocked some of her heritage and leapt into the Heavenly Fate Realm, even forming her second Fate Soul!

"Good girl! look how pretty you have become!" Said Shen Yue as he patted her when she flew down to greet him.

"Master, I have become strong!" She happily chirped in his mind.

"Yes, I'm so proud of you Blaze! Make sure to keep training hard, so you become even stronger! Remember not to annoy the people training or eat the Golden Turtle and Giant Clam! The fish that I have added are yours to eat as you wish." Shen Yue said to his bird, once again reminding it to be good. She really was an adorable beast.

"Yes, Master! I will not let you down!" Blaze said with conviction. She had already been programmed to be loyal, but after gaining wisdom and reaching a new realm of strength, she had become fanatical.

Now that the realm was safe, he brought in his army of men to cultivate to the next level. With Blaze solidifying her second Fate Soul, much of the tension he was feeling had vanished. He passed the next four days in Glory City planning his departure to his Abyss Realm, now that he had Blaze, he did not fear the crazy old man as much. Especially when another six of his men also became Heavenly Fate experts!

Shen Yue had spent most of his time in the Realm updating his peoples' cultivation techniques. Now that they were fully his, he spared no effort in gifting them tailor-made techniques to ensure their maximum potential. He also added in concealing abilities, as he did not want them attracting the Sage-Emperor's attention.

Shen Yue's soul realm had started to become cluttered with all the elements and seals manifesting in there. Hopefully, the vine that was now growing would organise it somewhat. It had already started to join with some of his attributes to form sacs, ready for when he contracted demon spirits. By the time he entered the legend level, they would all be united with the large sapling it was growing into.

His three slave seals were hovering in the sky to the side, separate from the Ying Yang Symbol and the elemental attributes that were drawn to the tree. The Ying Yang Symbol was steadily rotating above the tree, while the elements that had once been revolving around it had sunk down towards the tree.

The seven primary elements had formed the base of the tree. The sub-elements would presumably form into a pyramid as the tree grew. With the six elemental attributes making the second level and decreasing by one each layer. The neutral element looked like it would end up on top.

Shen Yue had distributed the fruits to his wives with Ziyun and Huyan Lanruo missing out until they regrew in a year. The Tree of Physicality's fruits stored away until he needed them. He had organised everything, only leaving a skeleton crew behind to manage his properties. All of his legend experts had been assembled to train to the Heavenly Fate Realm. Su Qiang and Zhang Jing had been left behind to stop any problems from occurring.

They had strict instructions to keep an eye on Ye Ziyun and Nie Li, as Shen Yue knew what kind of problems they could create. Hopefully, the next three weeks in the Nemesis Abyss Realm would pass without them causing trouble. Any move from Nie Li would give him a reason to banish him from Glory City and either forcing his family to go with him or disown him.

Before Shen Yue would leave Glory City, there was one thing he had to do. There was no way he was willing to overlook the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword, giving the enemy a chance to obtain it!


	31. Chapter 31

Shen Yue and twenty of his men were wearing masks as they infiltrated the Holy Orchid Institute. Under the cloak of darkness, they had bypassed the main school buildings, heading for the restricted area. The Heavenly Sacred Border entrance was unguarded, nobody would ever dream of entering without permission. They would be expelled from the most prestigious school in Glory City if found out.

Of course, Shen Yue cared little for the glorified daycare as he ordered his men to open the large door securing the secret Subsidiary Realm. As Shen Yue and his men entered the hidden realm, the encompassing light warped, as a myriad of images flashed across their eyes. It was as if they were passing through endless time and space.

When they arrived in the new realm seconds later, they gazed at the surroundings that were filled with grass and flowers, the scene was beautiful. Before they could move too far from the door, a voice sounded out from nowhere.

"Who dares enter the Heavenly Sacred Border without permission!"

"We do, why else would we be here? Are you retarded?" Shen Yue did not bother showing Ye Yan, a spirit of one of the five legend rank founders of Glory City, any face.

Even though Ye Yan was one of the founders, he had spent a thousand years trapped in this realm doing nothing. In all this time, only three people had passed his tests. Shen Yue thought it was time for such a worthless spirit to pass on.

"How dare you! I am the great Ye Yan, founder of Glory City it would not have survived without my guidance! I have been watching over this Realm for hundreds of years, you will not corrupt this utopia for geniuses!"

"Wow, you are impressive to remain and help Glory City. Oh wait, you are merely a parasite that has done nothing but somewhat guide three people in their cultivation. You are an embarrassment that should wait for this realm to crumble as I take away the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword."

Shen Yue did not bother listening to the ghost after that, walking towards where he felt an intense murderous aura coming from. When his men had heard Ye Yan's words, they were amazed to hear from the ancestor of Glory City, but after Shen Yue disrespected him, they couldn't help but have their opinions change.

Shen Yue was only thirteen years old and basically controlled Glory City and the Abyss Realm, Ye Yan had retreated with four other legend rank experts to create a City in hiding. Since then he had done nothing to aid it, only hiding away here to judge young potential cultivators. The difference was too big! Not to mention they were all legend and Heavenly Fate experts themselves. They also ignored the angry shouts of the impudent ghost.

Shen Yue led them towards the aura at a fast pace. As they walked further into the Heavenly Sacred Border, they were assaulted by illusions of thousands of demon beasts attacking from all sides. With his men dispelling the illusions whenever they attacked it was a quick trip to the sword of legend.

The Heavenly Sacred Border was being supported by the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword, which acted as the core of the Subsidiary Realm. Seeing as the murderous aura was overpowering, Shen Yue took this time to acquaint himself with it. Shen Yue had never encountered battle or a murderous aura before, as he had only trained with his guards.

Tempering himself under the heavy pressure, he had his men stand guard, ready to help him should he need it. Being from Earth, Shen Yue had not encountered anything like it and was nearly overpowered by the terrifying bloodthirsty aura. With the help of his men, he slowly acclimated himself with it, sensing the ruthlessness and utilising his own Emperor's Aura to resist it. This had the effect of strengthening his aura, giving it a more domineering and ruthless edge to it.

After two hours he was satisfied with his ability to fully resist the Swords murderous intent by himself and also the growth of his own aura. He ordered his men forward, demon spirit crystals ready to absorb the incoming spirits. While Shen Yue was enjoying a rush of soul force as he sat down and cultivated, his men were bombarded by an even fiercer terrifying murderous aura, it was like a tidal wave that swept over them.

An exploding sound came from the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword as it emitted a terrifying thunderous sound. Tens of millions of demon beast's spirits turned into lightning flashes, bombarding towards the group of twenty experts. The men exerted their soul force to capture demon spirits like fish in a net, forcing them into Demon Spirit Stones and storing them in their rings.

Hours later the realm was quiet as the sword had run out of demon spirits to attack the group with. Shen Yue stood up and smiled at his men's efforts. They had done exceedingly well in gathering demon spirits instead of just absorbing them like Nie Li. After consuming the demon spirits, Nie Li changed the demon spirit powers in the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword to his own and controlled these demon spirit powers to suppress the Sword.

Shen Yue just drained the Sword completely, he did not want to waste such valuable spirits. Who knew what type of ancient spirits the Sword had consumed to create it Sword Soul. Even after no more spirits were released, he had one of his Heavenly Fate experts probe it just in case. Just as his man reached out to touch it, a powerful blast of lightning zapped out and struck him in the chest!

Luckily the man was wearing a lightning resistant armour, but he was still blasted off his feet and flew ten metres away. If he had not been prepared, Shen Yue would have lost one of his new experts. After the man shakily stood up and gave the group a pained smile, he gave warning to the next in line to probe the Sword. He had used all of his soul force to defend against that strike and was still nearly killed!

The next man was also struck by lightning, but the effects were half of what the first poor bastard received. After four more men probed it without touching it, the Sword had virtually no fight left in it. Shen Yue approached the sword with trepidation, he had a healthy respect for this sword. This sword was not from this universe and was on the same level as the Temporal Demon Spirit Book. Even the Myriad Ancestor Sword was not its match in its prime!

Shen Yue grit his teeth, preparing his soul force to resist an attack. He had already borrowed a guards lightning resistive armour in preparation. As soon as his hand grasped the hilt, a deafening 'om' sound came from the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword. The sound was a shapeless ripple, that spread throughout the surrounding area, shaking trees as it passed. The Sword tried to resist, but its power had been exhausted in the hours of struggling against his men.

It was a dishonest way to subdue the Sword, but Shen Yue only cared for results. He would need to conquer the Sword when he merged it with the Myriad Ancestor Sword fragments anyway, so he might as well just store it away until then. Without the Sword to act as the core, the Heavenly Sacred Border would collapse in time. It was time to leave.

"I can't believe you subdued the Sword! If I had known that it could be suppressed like that, I would have done it years ago!" Cried out an astounded ghost.

"That's why you are trash! Lucky you don't need to breathe as you would just waste it for those that need it!" Shen Yue replied scathingly.

"Brat, have you not heard of respecting your elders? You have not been raised properly!" Said Ye Yan angrily.

"Would you respect an old beggar on the side of the street, covered in shit and piss after wasting his life on meaningless pursuits?" Shen Yue fired back.

"Of course not, one must strive to improve himself and those around us!" The ghost answered righteously.

"I see no difference between you and that tramp on the side of the road. Other than founding Glory City you have done nothing but linger in this realm doing nothing. Unfortunately, I can't have you telling anyone what happened here today." Shen Yue said with a menacing gleam in his eye.

"No! Wait, I allow me to serve you! You must have a way to preserve my soul, I want to see the changes that will happen under your reign! Please!" Ye Yan shamelessly begged. With the power this youth's men exhibited, there was a good chance he had a way for him to survive!

Shen Yue looked at the ghost with suspicion. He thought of Ye Ziyun about to regain her body and thought it was a shame he never got to see the flying death machine in action. Maybe he could brand this idiots soul and leave him to serve under Su Qiang like he wanted Ziyun to do.

"Ok, but I will need to apply an inscription seal on you to keep you from dispersing in a few days." He lied with a straight face.

After rewriting Ye Yan's personality into that of a loyal protector, he gathered his men and returned to his compound in Glory City. He was aware that the various experts would be on the lookout when the Sword released the untraceable shockwave. It had somehow made it to Glory City, maybe the realm had already lost its protection, and that was the side effect. Either way, it was a cautious Shen Yue that snuck back home in the early morning light.

Su Mei met him at the gates of his mansion, everyone had already left for the Abyss Realm so as not to draw attention after the Sword alerted every expert in the City. After a quick check over of the arrangements for his men that would stay behind, they also departed for the Nemesis Abyss Realm.

As soon as Shen Yue made it to his main base in the Abyss realm, he was assaulted by a metal bird.

"Shen Yue! You promised to help me have a breakthrough!" An eager Ziyun implored.

"Ok settle down. We will enter the realm soon, and I will adjust your mental state. You will have no problems so don't worry." He reassured her.

Ziyun already had an abundant amount of Soul Force needed to condense a Fate Soul. His library had confirmed that it was only a mental problem of not being able to harmonise with Heavenly Energy by sensing the Heavenly Dao. An hour later and Shen Yue and Ziyun entered the Violet Jade Immortal Realm alone so as not to show off her naked body.

With Shen Yue guiding her, Ziyun made the leap to the next realm. With soul-searing pain, Ziyun was ejected from the puppet as her Fate Soul pulsed, sucking in all the ambient Heavenly Energy it could in the vicinity. With a flash of light, a Ziyun's thirteen-year-old body slowly started to form.

Because Ziyun had been born with the perks the Earth slapper chose already activated, her soul had taken on that form since birth. It was a mint condition gorgeous teen with long purple hair, that formed naked in front of Shen Yue.

He finally had his Ziyun back to love!


	32. Chapter 32

Shen Yue had a lot to accomplish in his Abyss Realm. Not only did he have to add all his soldiers to his slave seal, but he also had to organise the population to be ready for expansion into the Divine Continent. He also had to cultivate, as he did not want to be reliant on his guards for his safety.

Ziyun had not stopped smiling since she had regained her body. She had been enthusiastic in showing her thanks, leaving him also continually smiling! Now that she had her body back, Shen Yue had to create a cultivation technique for her.

Since she had already entered the Heavenly Fate rank, she would be unable to gain the full benefits that would have come with practising as a mortal. There would be no problems reaching the pinnacle of cultivation, the effects of the technique would just not be as potent. However, there was a benefit from the massive strengthening of her soul, her Fate Soul was at least twice as powerful as a regular cultivator's Soul.

This was most likely due to her being unable to break through yet still continuing to cultivate. A powerful soul would lay a strong foundation for her future, bringing many advantages at higher realms! Ziyun was quick to start training again. Now she had her body back, she needed the power to keep it!

The days passed with Shen Yue continually branding his men in the Violet Jade Immortal Realm and then making plans for his new settlers when they exited the realm. The project was to establish new cities in the demon beast's territory, regaining land to sustain his future re-population goals. Now that he had the strength, he was not afraid of demon beast hordes. That said, he would still be covert in his operation, he didn't need Zhu Long attacking before he was ready.

After three weeks, nearly a year in the Violet Jade Immortal Realm, he was ready for the new City Lord selection. Although he had only reached the peak of black-gold rank because of his other duties, his maids and men had made tremendous gains in strength. Once someone reached the Heavenly Fate Realm, they were ordered to help others do the same. Any that were truly stuck were ordered to come to him so he could adjust their mental state as he had done for Ziyun.

During his time in the Abyss Realm, he received constant updates on Glory City's news. There was not much in the way of exciting events, only the City Lord was making any moves, the rest were content to watch the show. Nie Li and Ye Ziyun also kept their heads down, concentrating on raising their strength. Ye Ziyun had 'found' some records describing the Nether Realm and its lord. With no other option, she had convinced Nie Li to seek help from the Nether Lord.

Their pitiful attempts to secretly exchange plans were all seen through by the Heavenly Fate experts keeping an eye on their every move. It seemed that they were waiting to see the results of the City Lord election before making their move. Nie Li had managed to smuggle pills for himself and the slapper, by making twice as many pills with the same ingredients.

Shen Yue just upped the pill quota so that most of them fell into his hands, letting Nie Li gain one or two pills instead of hundreds. He did not want to completely cut off their resources, as he wanted them to fulfil their goals. Bringing the Nether Lord into the Tiny World to pressure Lord Voldemort would be all the justification Shen Yue needed to banish them from Glory City as traitors.

Even their Families would be forced to agree that bringing a foreign force of non-humans to control the City, was grounds for banishment. Shen Yue could also use this as an excuse to recognise the Nether Lord as the leader of the Dark Guild, after all, they operated out of one of his cities. To claim ignorance would be a poor excuse in the eyes of the victims.

When Nie Li and the skank were banished, it would also allow Ziyun to return unhindered. The 'Deity' would have to concede the win, exposing the Earthen hypocrite as an imposter. Nie Li would be tarred with the same brush, making it impossible to gain any allies from the Tiny World. With the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword and Yu Yan under Shen Yue's control, Nie Li will hopefully not have the means to destroy the barrier protecting the Tiny World from invasion.

Shen Yue looked out over the four different camps, each with their own soldiers, builders and farmers. With roughly twenty-five thousand men and women in each group, they would be the seeds of four new cities expanding the boundary of his empire. With Su Qiang leading Glory City and his thousand of Heavenly Fate experts, he had nothing to fear any more from the demons or subsidiary realms of Tiny World. Especially when he had the bait to lure the two strongest Spiritual Gods into a trap.

Leaving instructions for the exploratory teams to be ready to move at his command, Shen Yue and his wives returned to Glory City. Ziyun stayed behind with the promise that soon she would regain her old life and reunite with her parents.

Shen Yue headed to the Celestial Brotherhood Headquarters to show support for 'Lord 'Voldemort' in his campaign for City Lord. His wives had also dispersed to lead their families to show support. With their new Heavenly Fate strength, it would not take much effort to make the dissidents comply.

This time when Shen Yue approached the gates, the guards let him in with no problems. Shen Yue was shown directly to Su Qiang's compound where he was preparing his speech.

"Young Master, you have finally arrived! I need help with this speech, I have no idea what to say!" Su Qiang said with a trace of helplessness. He was not used to public speaking.

"I thought you might, that's why I have already prepared one for you. Make sure to memorise all the details, they might question you on how our changes will benefit the City. You don't need to worry about public speaking, don't you already give orders to your men? Just speak as if they are you subordinates receiving orders and you will be fine. A City Lord needs to show his dominance!" Said Shen Yue to allay his fears.

"You are right. With young masters planning, there is no way we could lose to Ye Zong!" Su Qiang said excitedly, he had full confidence in his master's plans.

Three hours later, the two City Lord candidates had convened on a platform in the most spacious training area the City Lord's mansion had. It seemed like the entire City was packed into the grounds to hear the speeches. The Family leaders had gathered behind the candidates to show support. Ye Zong's area was looking decidedly vacant, with only the Snow Wind and Heavenly Marks Family in attendance.

Nie Hai looked like he didn't want to be there if the vicious looks he was directing at Nie Li were any indication. Nie Li had forced his hand with his public acts of support or scandals. Nie Li and Ye Ziyun were off to the side whispering, it was hard for them to meet with Nie Li's enforced labour as a pill slave. He had ended up making tens of thousands of pills for the guild, even the hundred or so he had stolen couldn't make a dent in what they had coerced out of him.

With all the influential Families supporting Lord Voldemort, the commoners reinforced their decision to vote in a new City Lord. The Saint Judgment Hall had been called in to officiate the proceedings, with the Chief officer having been asked to preside over the election. The old, grey-bearded man, in pristine robes denoting his office, walked onto the stage.

"We are gathered here to elect a City Lord that will lead us into an era of prosperity! With Lord Voldemort's claim that the current City Lord, Ye Zong, is not fulfilling his duties, we are here to listen to each candidates reason for being granted the position of the overlord of Glory City!" The fragile looking official yelled, surprisingly loud for his age.

Before he could continue, a loud chant of 'Voldemort' started up in the crowd. This was definitely not caused by Shen Yue's men planted in the crowd, he would never do something like swaying the voters before the election ever began!

Ye Zong looked at the people he professed to serve and witnessed that they deemed him inadequate to uphold the role of City Lord. Seeing the sea of people chanting for his opposition was a blow to his ego. There was no way he could win this, his opponent had prepared his campaign thoroughly. If Ye Mo was here to help, things might have been different. But he had never been in the limelight, preferring to go on trips or focus on cultivation.

"I renounce my title as City Lord and remove myself from this election. I hope that Lord Voldemort will uphold his promises to lead Glory City into a future of prosperity." Ye Zong's voice spread over the assembled mass of people. He would sooner yield with dignity than being humiliated in a one-sided election. Even the Chief officer seemed bias towards Voldemort!

Before the crowd could register the change in the situation, a high pitched voice screeched out in objection.

"You can't do that! We don't even know who Voldemort is, let alone his credibility to govern our City! He has the Sacred Family sponsoring him, a Family that has ties to the Dark Guild and passes off inscriptions as their own to gain fame and fortune! Yelled Ye Ziyun in a bid to discredit her enemy.

Suddenly the crowd was excited, they had all heard of this girl's scandalous exploits and were eager to witness one for themselves!

"You dare slander my Sacred Family? I am the patriarch of the Family, and I can guarantee that we are enemies with the dark guild! We have even helped Lord Voldemort to kill all known members within the City! Shen Hong and some of our elders sacrificed their lives in the clash against Dark Guild traitors, and you dare accuse us of colluding with them?

The inscription techniques our Family founding ancestor claimed, were indeed modified from past inscriptions, but we have already brought this to the Saint Judgement Hall to rectify and pay penalties. Since the Chief officer of the Hall is here, I would like him to clarify this and also lodge a formal case of slander with no evidence against our Family!" Shen Xiu lashed out at Ye Ziyun with extreme prejudice.

Before the Chief Officer could even react, Ye Rou slapped Ye Ziyun so hard she fell to the ground in a wail of agony!

"I apologise for this child's lack of manners. Clearly, she has not learnt her lesson from previous corrections to her attitude. The Sacred Family is a distinguished Family, please forgive the silly remarks of an idiot child." Said Ye Rou, imploring Shen Xiu to retract the lawsuit, they could not endure any more fines!

Seeing Shen Yue give her a nod to drop it, Shen Xiu relented, accepting Ye Rou's apology. With Ye Ziyun being dragged away by her mother and Nie Li forcefully restrained and also led away by Nie Hai, Lord Voldemort gave his victory speech.

"People of Glory City, I thank you for your trust and promise to ensure it was well placed! The demon beasts have driven humans to near extinction, forcing us to hide in the St. Ancestral Mountain Range in fear. The Dark Guild has also plagued us by kidnapping and killing us for profit in our time of need.

I say enough! We will drive back the demon beasts to regain our land, feasting on them to fill our hungry stomachs! The Dark Guild will be hunted to extermination, and any found to be harbouring them will face the same punishment!

This is our time to fight, to demand our world back from mere savage beasts! No more hiding, with the strength of my brothers and your help, we will reclaim our pride as humans!" Shouted Su Qiang with conviction.

The crowd screamed their support, once again chanting Voldemort. Shen Yue couldn't keep the smile off his face as he saw his plans coming to fruition.


	33. Chapter 33

After taking control of the City, Su Qiang reformatted the City Guards. They were made up of volunteers from all Families and commoners. Su Qiang selected a hundred senior members and brought them to Shen Yue to be branded with his new slave seal.

The hundred new Guard Captains would be responsible for recruiting, branding and matching a cultivation technique for new recruits to train with. Shen Yue had created basic cultivation techniques for each attribute, suitable for the majority of most soul forms. Any rare forms and talents would be singled out for special treatment.

With the new City Guards being formed, Shen Yue also introduced his death puppet, Ye Yan, to Su Qiang. After being thoroughly brainwashed, Ye Yan was inserted into Ziyun's soul puppet when she regained her body. With a suitable back story, he was introduced as the founder of Glory City and made Su Qiang's position as City Lord secure. He also made a great advisor or messenger.

With the Snow Wind Family booted from the City Lord's Mansion, it would be a week before they could clean out their belongings and treasures. Su Qiang now had time to brand his Celestial Brotherhood members. After they were branded, the seal restricting their cultivation would be released. They could now attain the exalted rank of legend.

Shen Yue was quite confident in Su Qiang's ability to implement his plans to the City, and with Ye Yan to help, there was no need for him to stick around. Besides, he was now busy playing with his new toy. The men he had sent to the Dark Ruins had finally returned, and they had found the Nightmare Demon Pot. They had also cleared the area of demon spirits as nightmare demon beasts were quite rare.

After a quick scan by his overpowered library, Shen Yue could not help but be amazed by Nie Li's stupidity. It seems that whoever created the Nightmare Demon Pot, did so to evolve demon spirits. If you created an artifact to help you develop demon spirits, would you leave it to chance? No, there were basic rules that even a novice would be able to work out with trial and error.

Nie Li was simply an idiot. Even after knowing that using demon spirits of the same attribute increases the success rate, he then completely ignores that and grades them as fighter or assassins type spirits. What a moron! He even knew that there were different levels of cultivation for demon spirits, but still tossed them in randomly expecting a good result!

The cultivation levels are the same as humans, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Black-Gold, Legend and so on. The growth levels, which is the most essential characteristic of a demon spirit, are Poor, Ordinary, Good, Excellent, Extraordinary and God levels.

Even before reading the information on the Nightmare Demon Pot, Shen Yue could safely assume that if you wanted to raise the growth level of an ordinary, silver ranked fire demon spirit, you would use bronze fire demon spirits with a poor growth rate. This would ensure that the specific demon spirit effortlessly devours the other ones increasing its rank. Of course, you would have to keep the levels close, as using weak demon spirits to evolve a strong demon spirit would not achieve much growth.

Basic common sense and the three-hundred-year-old Nie Lie could not work it out, destroying thousands of demon spirits when they exploded from being incompatible. The next thing that he failed at was not controlling the merger of demon spirits. He simply shoved soul force into the pot and hoped for the best! Although he found this out after operating the pot thousands of times when he created the mutated dragon demon spirit.

Shen Yue was glad he did not have to rely on the dumb arse like the trollop. He could only imagine the trouble he will get her into when they go to the Draconic Realm. Shen Yue was going to try his best to keep him from entering the Divine Feathers Sect, he didn't need the fool bumbling around and ruining his plans. Hopefully, Nie Li will forget about the Tiny World and concentrate on the Sage-Emperor. If he comes looking for trouble, Shen Yue had no qualms about ending him and the hypocrite from Earth.

The last thing that influenced the success rate was the condition of the Nightmare Demon Pot. This was another rookie mistake for the self-proclaimed master, Nie Li. When he first injected soul force into the pot, he felt a connection and watched as the pot shined. After subsequent uses with stronger dragon bloodline demon spirits, he noticed that the pot's appearance changed. It started to glow scarlet red and a mysterious pattern gradually formed on its surface.

Blind Freddie could have told him that the pot needed to be nourished with soul force, practically every artifact he came across needed to be! One of the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting's functions is to provide artifacts with Heavenly Energy to strengthen them, it's such a basic detail to miss from someone that has reached the peak of cultivation.

When Nie Li found the space where the pot stores it's Heavenly Energy, he even pillaged it for his own cultivation! Absolute retard! For the sake of a quick power gain, he would have to sacrifice thousands of spirit stones to buy demon spirits that were lost because of the loss of strength of the artifact. Shen Yue would not be making these mistakes.

Since it took too long to advance from a 1-Fate Heavenly Fate to a 2-Fate purely using Heavenly Energy from the atmosphere, Shen Yue had cycled them out so every legend expert could condense a Fate Soul. Now that the majority had, he had them pumping Heavenly Energy into the Nightmare Demon Pot. With thousands of experts taking turns to inject the pot with much-needed nourishment, there was no drop in power for them.

While the pot was being nourished, Shen Yue was organising the thousands of demon spirits into different attributes, levels and growth rates. He had not really been bothered about contracting a demon spirit before now, preferring to wait until he could combine and mutate god growth demon spirits.

Although the Shadow Devil had a god level growth rate, it did not have extra powers or a presence like the Fanged Panda that Nie Li created. Shen Yue held off integrating with it until he could boost its abilities with the Nightmare Demon Pot.

Shen Yue also liked the idea of merging laws to enhance his demon spirits and had already made plans to travel to the Heavenly Fate Plateau to finally release the Fire Spiritual Goddess. Adding another beauty to his harem would also be welcomed.

Since his new slave seal, his women had meshed together without any snide comments or evil looks. He had no idea how people had harems without slavery, it would take momentous amounts of patience and diplomacy!

When the Demon Spirits had been sorted into different levels and grades, his next task was to choose the spirits worthy of being upgraded. Shen Yue had twenty-nine slots for demon spirits but was only planning to integrate a few to start with. When he improves their level, they will have more power to fight for control, and he was not prepared to risk damage to his soul realm just to fill up the empty slots.

Besides, they would absorb some of the Heavenly Energy he receives when cultivating, making it harder to level his soul realm. It already took several times the amount of soul force needed to reach the next level thanks to his multiple attributes absorbing the Qi for their own domains. Adding a demon spirit would only add to the cost.

For now, Shen Yue would only mutate his Shadow Devil Demon Spirit which was of the Dark attribute, the Sacred Flaming Condor from Shen Hong of the Sacred Fire attribute and an Earth attribute Black Scaled Earth Dragon demon spirit. These demon spirits would give him a decent range of fighting techniques from air to close range.

While the Nightmare Pot was being pumped full of energy, Shen Yue took the time to continue cultivating. If he didn't need to split the Qi into twenty-nine parts, he would have already reached the Heavenly Fate Realm. But time was easy to sacrifice when you had a cheat item that sped up time in another realm! The only problem was that the physical body of his wives and himself were growing faster than the children his age.

It would be easily noticed if he was still among his school mates, but thankfully he rarely went out in public. If anyone raised the issue, he would just throw the blame on his reliable patsy, Voldemort. The trollop will hopefully think Voldemort just had a method of bringing others to the Violet Jade Immortal Realm.

A month later in Glory City and the occupants of the City Lord's Mansion had changed. The City Guards had seen a tremendous rise in strength and the Brotherhood members had started to break through to the legend rank. The City had pretty much become impenetrable to all those under spiritual God rank.

Demigod ranked experts could be taken down by legend ranks ganging up on them, but Spiritual Gods could kill three hundred legend rank experts with ease. With the added inscription arrays to the outside wall defences, they now only had to fear Spiritual Gods.

The four Exploratory teams had also set out to conquer new land for the Nemesis Family. Of course, it was kept as low key as possible, but moving a hundred thousand people was hard to keep quiet. Su Qiang used his authority as City Lord to squash rumours. He gave the vague excuse of military exercises of new Guard troops. As people could not explain men and women popping out of nowhere from within the City, they could only speculate.

Shen Yue had finally reached the peak of legend rank and decided it was time to improve some demon spirits. During his time relaxing in Glory City, he had an epiphany of how to cut back on some of the demon spirit expenditure and maybe gain some added benefits.

Nie Li only ever used low-level demon spirits to upgrade demon spirits growth. What would happen if he used all legend ranked demon spirits? How would they mutate and would it save destroying thousands just to obtain one god growth demon spirit? Shen Yue was about to find out as he had his men integrate demon spirits just to raise their rank.

His men had been continuously pumping the Nightmare Demon Pot full of soul force and yesterday, after so long, it had finally revealed the glowing inscription pattern that Nie Li had witnessed. Shen Yue had asked his wives what types of demon spirits they had wanted, and after a couple of days, they had given him their requests.

Shen Yue entered his realm with the people chosen to cultivate this session and sat down to make this pot work some magic. He did not want to use his chosen demon spirits first, so he decided to do some test runs.

Grabbing nine demon spirits with poor growth and legend ranked cultivation with Fire attributes, he tossed them into the pot with an ordinary growth one with the same characteristics. Injecting his soul force into the pot, he felt a connection. Using his soul force to surround the demon spirit with the ordinary growth, he prompted it to start devouring the other demon spirits.

It was a quick process, and he only had to fend off an attacker once during a merging. The other demon spirits were content to devour the other spirits of the same level, leaving the strongest till last. When there was only one demon spirit left beside the spirit he was controlling, energy levels within the pot started to fluctuate.

This was easily contained when he surrounded both the spirits with his soul force and forced them to merge. This must have been where Nie Li always failed, if only he used his brain and utilised the pot as it was supposed to be used, he would have saved himself millions. With a flash of light, the lid was removed and the demon spirit stored in one of the empty demon spirit stones.

Shen Yue inspected the upgraded ordinary growth demon spirit and was delighted to see that it had skipped a level and become an Excellent growth demon spirit. After experimenting another ten times, Shen Yue was confident that having a stronger demon spirit would help it improve its growth level faster. In these test runs, he had only nearly failed once, but it was when he produced a god level growth demon spirit.

It seemed that with a bit of care in choosing compatible demon spirits, the failure rate would be minuscule. With a new found confidence, Shen Yue started producing god level growth demon spirits for himself and his wives.

Since he had plenty of time, he would also have to start supplying his officers with suitable demon spirits. The common demon spirits would be sacrificed to enhance the unique and rare ones.


	34. Chapter 34

Shen Yue had spent the last few days training with his new demon spirits. With his upgraded eyesight thanks to his cat eyes perk, he was able to react fast enough to counter most of his training partners moves. Now that he could integrate with high-level demon spirits, he was able to counter most of the attacks directed at him with ease.

Without any prior fighting experience, Shen Yue had been using his time in the spacial realm to improve his combat experience. He also planned to use his trip to the Heavenly Fate Plateau to kill demon beasts to train himself in live combat. Training with a friend in a controlled environment was completely different from a savage beast hell-bent on tearing your throat out.

During his relaxing days in Glory City, he had also been mulling over the problem of how to banish the slapper yet still keep the child growing inside of her. The first problem was her not killing it outright as soon as she found out, which must be very soon. Shen Yue was not sure if cultivators experience morning sickness, but if they do, she would be starting to show signs.

The best plan he could come up with was using public sentiment to force her not to abort the child. If she did anything to the baby after the City found out about it, the discovery would destroy her already tattered reputation. With Nie Li thinking it was his, and her parents wanting an heir, it should be enough to stay her hand. Otherwise, she would face dire repercussions. Funnily enough, the outcry of a thirteen-year-old having a baby paled in comparison to a girl aborting her child, especially a noble!

With his minions given the order to disseminate rumours throughout the City, he was ready to leave on his hunting trip. Most of his men had already headed to the plateau in preparation for the hunt, so it was just a small team that headed out in the morning. As a peak 5-star legend, Shen Yue was not too worried about injury from low-level beasts. Even though they were physically larger with teeth and claws, his cultivation technique made him impervious to harm from anything below the rank of legend.

This hampered his life or death fighting experience, but let's face it, you would have to be a complete retard to actually put yourself into a life or death situation in the first place! What are you exactly hoping to achieve? The knowledge that you could survive overwhelming odds? Forcing yourself to squeeze out all your potential? It was conveniently overlooked just how many people actually survived this training regime. How about just training harder and bringing a gun to a knife fight!

Shen Yue thought it was absurd that so many protagonists threw themselves into danger to achieve breakthroughs or training benefits. He was a blue-collar slob that had only been in a few bar fights before, there was no way he was going to put himself in a shitty situation just to train! Although it would put him at a disadvantage when fighting the beserker nutjobs inhabiting this universe, Shen Yue much preferred fighting smarter than like a retarded lemming, charging into battle.

With his aversion to killing dulled from the massacre at the Sacred Family, Shen Yue found it easier to fight and kill. The terrifying beasts trying to rip him apart took getting used to though. It was certainly an eye-opener when he faced his first demon beast.

His men faced him off against a bronze ranked Giant Blue Armed Ape, but gave the restriction that he was unable to use weapons. With the assurance that there was no possible way for him to be harmed, he fought against the massive ape barehanded.

The Giant Blue Armed Ape howled with rage, before charging towards Shen Yue in a lumbering gallop. With his legend strength and speed, it was easy to dodge the seemingly slow swings of its massive fists, but Shen Yue was urged to feel what an attack would feel like. Forcing himself to ignore his reflex to dodge, he braced himself and was struck by a fist the size of a car tyre.

Shen Yue was expecting to be launched backwards by the blow, but somehow, only slid back slightly, feeling no pain at all from a hit that would cripple an average adult! After receiving the first blow, Shen Yue continued to block the fists that were striking at him as the enraged ape continued its frenzied assault. Losing his fear, Shen Yue started to fight back and attacked with a heavy right hook against an incoming fist.

His hand looked tiny compared to the Giant Blue Armed Ape's fist, but he was shocked when they collided. With a loud crunch, the ape's fist exploded in a shower of gore as Shen Yue's fist continued forward destroying up to its elbow! Shen Yue nearly lost his balance as there seemed to be no resistance to his punch.

Shen Yue was astounded as he stared at his blood covered fist in awe while the massive ape was howling in agony. Sick of the noise, Shen Yue jumped up and punched it in the head, bursting it like a melon. After his first fight, he was covered head to toe in gore and wondering how he had not killed everything he touched before! Looking up he saw Shen Tzu approaching with a smile on his face.

Shen Tzu was from the Sacred Family and had been arranged by Shen Xiu to train Shen Yue in combat. He was her teacher when she was younger and was a peak gold rank expert before he joined Shen Yue's team, now he was a Heavenly Fate expert. Shen Tzu had been experienced in fighting both humans and demon beasts. He had been training Shen Yue ever since the takeover, encouraging him to take hits to lose his fear of injury.

As an average human from Earth, Shen Yue was averse to being pummeled in a fight and tended to retreat or guard against attacks in fear of bodily harm. When Shen Tzu came onto the scene, this was quickly overcome with the same strategy as the fight with the ape just now. After taking a few hits and getting used to the flow of a fight, Shen Yue had soon learnt to hit back.

This wasn't to say that he was taught to disregard hits as he dished out attacks of his own. No, he was taught to fight smart and identify weaknesses instead of just striking out blindly. This training was just to conquer his fear and discover the power and resilience of his body. Unfortunately, he had always fought against opponents with the same or higher strength!

"What happened? Why did I not move when an obviously heavier beast attacked, and how did it explode?" Shen Yue questioned his combat instructor. He was baffled by the easy win, he didn't even integrate with his demon spirit!

"It's because of your body's toughness and the use of soul force. The reason why you didn't fly away when the ape hit you, is because you reinforced yourself with soul force. If you didn't, you would certainly have been sent flying even if you didn't take any damage." Shen Tzu replied.

"But when I spar with the men, they never explode from my attacks!" Shen Yue asked dumbfounded. Seeing his attacks destroy the ape had shaken his ability to touch things without them turning to dust!

Shen Tzu sighed, this new master of his was incredibly naive of his power.

"Again, using soul force either as an attack or in defence negates the laws of mass! Such an immense attack from a beast five times your size would usually crush you, but with the use of your internal energy, it was easily defeated. How do you think the human race has survived when our enemies are all physically stronger than us? Your sparring partners have just been able to defend against your attacks, I would not let you fight a newbie as they would be sure to die!" Shen Tzu explained.

Thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. Although he had physically gotten stronger, with the many hours in his personal training realm, he had time to adjust and get used to his new strength. He had never had a reason to use his soul force other than his training sessions, luckily avoiding embarrassing situations of exploding people!

Looking at the blood soaking his clothes, Shen Yue decided to carry on training with demon beasts, as cleaning up would be pointless until he had finished for the day. The next enemy was brought in and the day continued in slaughter.

Two days later, they arrived at the plateau ready to unseal a god. He had fought and killed over a hundred demon beasts in the last two days, his men had even found a black-gold demon beast for him to fight. With the experience from the battles before, the fight had been relaxed. The demon beast's frenzied assault had been more powerful, but under his eyes, it had seemed slow and predictable. The only challenge he could receive was when he sparred with his men, humans were much more cunning and took advantage of any openings he had.

The thousand or so men that he had sent ahead, had camped on the plateau awaiting his orders. After he unsealed Yu Yan, he would need these men to help trap and kill Zhu Long. With a quick check in to make sure his soldiers were ok, the small group headed to the black spring to unseal Yu Yan.

It was an easy trip, as the bullshit Nie Li had to deal with, such as poisonous gas from Black Oil Trees or swampland, was easily bypassed by flying over it! Even if they somehow became poisoned with their levels, their rings were full of antidotes for situations just like this.

Very soon, they reached a precipice with a stream of black water flowing down, creating a waterfall. At the bottom, was a deep pond of pitch black water giving off a terrifying aura. Just before the water, was a platform that had been built by human hands. Nie Li had to abseil down to reach it, but the benefits of being overpowered were that Shen Yue's group could simply float down without any drama.

Upon reaching the bottom, Shen Yue instructed his people to not walk in front of him or interfere at any time. There was three Lighting attribute sealing inscription patterns and six Sacred Flame offensive inscription patterns guarding the entrance to the fire spiritual goddess's resting place. Although Shen Yue had confidence in disabling them, he did not need his men interrupting him at a vital moment and triggering the traps.

The inscription patterns were quite intricate for something in the Tiny World, and Shen Yue was amazed to find this level of inscription safeguarding Yu Yan. With the help of his library, he finished breaking the three sealing inscription patterns after disabling the offensive arrays within an hour. It had been a good test of his abilities since he rarely got to use his inscription knowledge.

When he finished breaking the inscription patterns, the cliff wall started to tremble. The cliff face slowly opened up, unveiling a deep cave full of moisture. Shen Yue was unsure how droplets of water could fall to the ground, converge together and became a stream of water, but this cave managed to do it.

Looking at all the offensive inscription patterns covering the walls, Shen Yue knew it was going to be a bitch to reach Yu Yan.


	35. Chapter 35

Since the cave was littered with traps, Shen Yue ordered his men to stay and guard the entrance. It would be a lot safer without his men accidentally setting off an inscription and bringing the mountain down on them.

This group of guards only consisted of Shen Tzu and nine other Heavenly Fate experts. Shen Yue had not brought any of his wives with him on this hunting trip. He feared that they would be injured or worse, killed when he confronts the mightiest creature in the Tiny World.

Without any distractions, Shen Yue would be able to move through the traps unhindered, only disarming them if he had too. But first, he used his cultivation method to display his power level as a 2-star gold rank. He wanted to lull Yu Yan into a false sense of security so he could approach her body without raising her suspicion.

After some time of dodging offensive inscriptions, he reached a corner of the cave where there was something that was emitting a dazzling light. He came to a spacious cavern, filled with large purple crystals emitting a faint purple glow.

Confirming that the area had no more traps or dangers, Shen Yue inspected the crystals with his library. Unfortunately, they had no other purpose other than absorbing Qi and converting it to light. He had hoped they were treasures that could be mined for his Empire's benefit.

With disappointment clearly showing on his face, Shen Yue returned his attention back to the cavern. In the middle, was an enormous black coloured spring, with water bubbling out from the top. Surprisingly, the lake wasn't overflowing, and Shen Yue had no idea where the excess water was disappearing to.

Checking for traps as he went, Shen Yue was happy when he could only find a mysterious inscription array supporting a huge barrier surrounding the Black Spring. He cautiously advanced and soon found the six corpses mentioned in the novel.

The bodies had completely rotted away, leaving only bleached bones covered with armour. Around the remains, were also various kinds of weapons encased in layers of dust. After looking at the inscription patterns on these items, Shen Yue recognised that they were all Legend rank items. Even though the weapons and armour had degraded with time, they could easily be touched up by his Smith and given to his personal guards.

He wasted no time in looting everything, not forgetting to grab their storage rings. After checking the interspatial rings, he found that they were all high grade, with a space of a few hundred meters in circumference. Unfortunately, even with the incredibly reduced time inside the ring, most of the items had perished. Thousands of years had passed since these experts had sealed themselves in this cave.

Shen Yue didn't bother to equip his new Wind Spirit Armour as he would soon be diving into the murky depths of the black lake to cultivate. There would be plenty of time after he had enslaved Yu Yan and understood the basics of how to obtain the one hundred and eight laws of the Tiny World. He was just waiting for her to show herself.

With nothing else of worth left in the cavern, he walked over to the Black Spring to inspect the barrier. Through it, Shen Yue could sense some kind of majestic energy being gathered inside. This must be the power of law that Yu Yan needed to reform her divine spark. The barrier was also maintaining the energy inside, limiting the amount being dispersed. This was probably to hide its presence from the demon beasts tracking the Spiritual Goddess.

Just as Shen Yue was about to break the inscription barrier, an image of a gorgeous woman with an unmatched appearance emerged from the spring. She looked to be approximately twenty-five years old and wearing a black muslin dress that hugged her perfect figure like a second skin. Unlike Nie Li, Shen Yue definitely had lewd ideas about this sexy Goddess. However, he had to clear his mind of such thoughts, as Spiritual Gods supposedly had a mind-reading ability.

"I have waited for several tens of thousands of years. I never thought that there would finally be people arriving here. Young man, what's your name?" her voice was very faint and was irregularly changing.

"I am Shen Yue, may I ask who you are and why you are sealed in this cave?" Keeping his mind clear and showing a respectful image, Shen Yue played the role of a helpful adventurer. He wanted her to lower her guard, making it easy to mark her soul with his slave inscription.

"My name is Yu Yan, the Fire Spiritual God and I am trapped here until I can recover from my injuries." She lightly said.

Shen Yue put on a mask of shock as he asked, "What are Spiritual Gods?"

Yu Yan's image looked at Shen Yue, showing a gentle smile on her face as she said, "We're the Spiritual Gods of this world, in control of all kinds of Laws in the heavens and earth. I am in control of fire, it's just that my physical body has been dissipated. My Divine Spark has been destroyed, becoming extremely tiny clusters of dust that has scattered to every corner of this world. However, Spiritual Gods are indestructible. After a few tens of thousands of years, my Divine Spark will gradually regather and reform my physical body."

Shen Yue played his part of an ignorant person and masked his face with doubt.

Seeing his uncertainties, Yu Yan continued to explain. "Spiritual Gods are the gods of this world. Every main world can only have thirty-six Spiritual Gods, with the subsidiary realms only having one each. They wield one law from the Heavens and Earth. All Spiritual Gods represent the world's laws.

Since ancient times, the thirty-six Spiritual Gods in our world and the seventy-two Spiritual Gods from the subsidiary realms, have been split between the different species. One fourth is represented by humanity, two-fourths by demon beasts and the remaining one fourth by other races. They are the powerful rulers of this world.

To gain command over the laws the different races engaged in endless slaughter. In the end, many Gods were extinguished. Some were like me, having their Divine Sparks destroyed and their physical bodies ceasing to exist."

It seems like Yu Yan was slightly affected by the eons of solitude, as she kept on spewing out endless amounts of information. Unfortunately, Shen Yue had to bear with it as he had to play the ignorant villager until he could brand her. Who knew what kind of tricks she could play if he revealed his insidious intentions!

"Tens of thousands of years ago, the Demon Beast Clan tried to kill all the Spiritual Gods of our Human Clan to gain control of our laws, creating a war that encompassed all of our world and most of the subsidiary realms. Although we combined our strength and utterly defeated the Demon Beast Clan, we suffered casualties and were nearly exhausted.

My scattered Divine Spark can sense that a Spiritual God has arisen in the Demon Beast Clan and is trying to destroy the heritage of my Human Clan. Pity that my Divine Spark has only accumulated a third its original size. If more Spiritual Gods continue to be born to demon beasts, then the humans will be exterminated.

The remains of my Divine Spark can only be slowly gathered as I wait here in the Black Spring. Once I leave, a group of pinnacle level Legend rank demon beasts guarding the Black Spring will do all they can to stop me and destroy my physical body."

Before Yu Yan could continue with her information dump, Shen Yue cut her off and got straight to the point.

"Is there a way to create more Human Spiritual Gods?" He asked.

Even though Yu Yan was surprised at Shen Yue's interruption, she was pleased with his question. If he was incapable of sensing the laws, then he could at least bring some more people to try and rebuild the Human Spiritual Gods.

"Good, I also want to pass on the power of laws to you as we cannot let our human race go extinct. As to how much you can comprehend and what level you reach, that will have to depend on yourself!" Yu Yan said with a satisfied nod of her head. This eager child was what she had spent ages waiting for! Calming her mood, Yu Yan slowly continued.

"Among the twenty-seven Spiritual Gods in our Human Clan, there are six that have thoroughly fallen. The remaining had their Divine Sparks scattered with the rest having an unknown status. The stronger the law, the harder it is to cultivate, with everyone only being able to practise one law.

Among the six dead Spiritual Gods, the strongest are Light, Darkness and Primal Chaos. Among them, I have personally witnessed the fall of the Primal Chaos Spiritual God. However, the Primal Chaos Spiritual God is the most unusual existence, who knows if he had any methods to survive. The remaining three are the elemental laws of Earth, Lightning and Gold.

However, sensing the laws is extremely difficult. You might need to seclude yourself here for over twenty years before you can even gain a hint."

Shen Yue was confident that he would also be able to cheat as Nie Li did, so he paid no attention to Yu Yan's opinions of the difficulty in cultivating the Laws of the World. He was already tired of listening to Yu Yan spout shit that he already knew, he just wanted her to give him the method to sense the laws already!

"What should I do first?" He asked before she could stress further the difficulty she faced in becoming a Spiritual God.

"The first step is to strengthen your physical body. This Black Spring contains a portion of the power from my Divine Spark. I will open the barrier, so you can enter and soak yourself in it, which will refine your physical body. If you sensed the power of the law when your physical body isn't strong enough, the power would destroy you." She said, showing a sad smile.

This child's cultivation was only at the gold rank, it would take time for his body to become strong enough to contain the powerful energy of laws.

Finally, with Yu Yan's permission, Shen Yue could access the Black Spring where her body was recovering. Removing his clothes without any shame, he slowly entered the dark waters. There was some kind of powerful energy within the Black Spring that made the sapling in his soul realm tremble in excitement.

Although it had been nourished with massive amounts of Qi during his cultivation, this kind of energy was purer than soul force. Such pure energy quickly made him feel as though his skin was being refined by a gentle warmness. Shen Yue operated his soul realm and began slowly absorbing this energy so as not to alarm the Fire Spiritual Goddess.

He didn't miss the blushing cheeks of the beauty as she watched over his progress. He was quite happy with how his body was growing, as the perks he had chosen made him an Adonis. It was a pity that getting a ten-thousand-year-old virgin, that had spent most of that time alone, to blush at his naked body was not really much of an achievement.

Absorbing the energy in the lake did little for his cultivation, but the sapling in his soul realm was soaking it up in glee. After acclimatising to the power within the water, Shen Yue prepared to go deeper.

It was time to lay eyes on the real body of this Goddess!


	36. Chapter 36

With the ease that the tree in his soul realm was absorbing the pure energy, Shen Yue kept diving lower and lower. He was like a sunken ship, moving towards the depths of the Black Spring as he continued to absorb more of the power in the water. The deeper he went, the richer the energy of Law became.

Seeing Shen Yue's action, Yu Yan, who was floating on top of the Black Spring, changed her expression.

"Quickly get out, get out!" Yu Yan shouted towards the Black Spring. Although her soul can sense the situation within, she's unable to enter it or affect anything within.

Seeing that Yu Yan would not or could not interfere with him as he dived deeper, Shen Yue kept going lower. With the energy becoming purer and the pressure he was receiving becoming more intense, Shen Yue started to operate his cultivation technique. No matter how much Power of Law is being absorbed, it doesn't seem to be able to satisfy the sapling. Immediately the pressure disappeared, and he was quickly able to reach the bottom where a ray of dazzling light attracted his attention.

As he was getting closer, Shen Yue could feel a heat wave blowing towards him. Such powerful fire energy! When he reached the source of the light, he found a beauty with pale skin. Unfortunately, she was the size of an infant and curled into a ball of red energy.

Shen Yue had accessed the Tales of Demon and Gods novel in his library before entering the cave, refreshing his memory so as not to miss anything important. After sifting through the events of Nie Li during his first encounter of Yu Yan, he couldn't help but be amazed at Nie Li's twisted nature. And this was coming from a guy with a harem and a mass of women worshipping him!

Nie Li's first thoughts when seeing the 50cm sized beauty was pretty funny, it spoke volumes about his retarded self-righteous view of himself!

"Although the size is small, it couldn't help giving others a rush of adrenaline upon glancing at it. If an ordinary guy saw this scene, he probably wouldn't be able to control himself. It's a good thing that Nie Li is unperturbed by it."

Shen Yue couldn't help but think that this summed up Nie Li to a 'T'. He considered himself better than everyone, simply because he didn't want to fuck a baby-sized naked woman! Sure she was beautiful, but come on! How did that thought even enter his mind? Even Shen Yue, with his lewd plans for Yu Yan, didn't have any sexual fantasies about a tiny woman! He certainly didn't pat himself on the back for it!

He couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the three-hundred-year-old pedophile as he reached out to brand the mini goddess. With the mysterious tree absorbing the intense fire energy radiating from Yu Yan, his hand finally passed through the scarlet light ball that was the Divine Spark and made contact with her body.

[ Yu Yan, 89,716 years of age, Fire Spiritual Goddess, Entered Tiny World on a meteor from unknown World. Cultivation - Law of Fire.

"Flaws: No.1, Divine Spark only 34% gathered... No.2, her talent toward sensing the Power of Law is lacking... No.3, isolation for several tens of thousands of years has left her mind damaged with... No.4, Flames of Life ability locked... ]

It was just like Shen Yue thought when he had been reading the novel, Yu Yan was mentally ill, why else would she try to destroy the Tiny World's life-saving barrier? He was a bit worried by the library not knowing her world of origin, but she did have a past shrouded in mystery after all.

Putting these thoughts from his mind, he forcefully entered her soul realm and locked down her meagre defences before she could react. It was fortunate that her mentality and Divine Spark were considerably damaged. He would be quickly overpowered and destroyed if he had tried this when Yu Yan was at full power.

Even though Spiritual Gods had changed their bodies to become one with their Law, they still had a soul realm and were capable of cultivating to higher realms. They were just limited in what they were able to do with their power. It was impossible to use any ability other than the Law they practised.

With the preparations that Shen Yue made before attacking, he was quickly able to imprint the subjugation seal on Yu Yan's soul. With her Divine Spark remaking her body and her defences lowered against a weak gold rank teenager, Yu Yan paid for her lack of concern towards Shen Yue.

Shen Yue had no problem with completely altering Yu Yan's personality as she was a ticking time bomb of devastation with her mind in its current state. Since she had already lived such a long and disappointing life, she might as well dedicate the rest of it to him!

Shen Yue then proceeded to make massive changes to her memory, transforming her need to save humanity into a need to support him as her saviour and the only hope of Tiny World! Any and all independent thought was crushed, with her personality changed to live as Shen Yue's sycophant. Hopefully, now she would not rush off making terrible decisions with consequences of epic proportions.

He also unlocked her childhood memories and took his time in smoothing out any of the negative results from the eons of living with six corpses. In the end, it was easier to wipe everything from as soon as they died and create an endless amount of gratefulness for releasing her from this self-made prison.

Yu Yan, who had her eyes closed to sense what was happening in the water, released a soft cry the instant he touched her. She suddenly opened her eyes and felt her soul trembling. For tens of thousands of years, she's been the respected goddess of the Human Clan. Yet, Shen Yue actually touched her sacred body, this is too presumptuous!

However, Shen Yue was only a kid, it was normal for him to be a little curious. The instant he touched her celestial body, she felt a mighty shock of energy circulate within her. This is the Power of Law! This is actually the Power of Law that she was so familiar with, and it seems to be very deep and powerful!

Yu Yan was shocked to her core, could it be that inside this child's body was a power of an even higher level? In this world, the only authority that is above the Spiritual Gods was probably the World Creator!

Before Yu Yan could muse further on the issue, her soul realm was forcefully breached! This caused her immense pain, and she could not even muster any defences before they were locked down. Just as she was about to gather all of her strength for one final chance at resisting the attack, she slipped into unconsciousness.

With Yu Yan programmed into a dutiful wife, Shen Yue focused on the problem of her Divine Spark. He would need a greater understanding of the Power of Law before he could design an inscription array to speed up the process of regathering the dispersed sparks.

He searched through her mind with ease, finding her methods of cultivating Law and the moment she merged herself with it to become a Spiritual Goddess. Holding out his hand, Shen Yue concentrated on the process of sensing the Fire Law, just as Yu Yan practised. Suddenly, a blazing fire with a mysterious inscription pattern formed on his palm. The flame could even burn underwater, not affected by it at all.

"So this is the essence of laws, it is even easier than Nie Li described!" Shen Yue was astonished.

These flowing inscription patterns proved that the essence of laws isn't natural energy, but created by some supreme existence. It filled the world with mysterious inscription patterns that formed the Laws just like the air.

No wonder Spiritual Gods were able to regather their Divine Sparks after being broken. Yu Yan is the Law of Fire in both Heaven and Earth, the Law of Fire is her! Once enough is gathered up, Yu Yan's Divine Spark will be fully restored!

Shen Yue suddenly realised that he could cultivate the Law of Fire and pass it through the link in their soul realms! He did not even need to set up any arrays to attract the pieces of Spark across the world, he would just create a new one!

Since being underwater was not the best place to cultivate fire energy, Shen Yue grabbed Yu Yan and returned to the shore of the lake. It seemed odd to him that she would not have chosen a volcanic place of fire to cultivate instead. Even if she was chased to the Black Spring, why did a Fire Goddess have a water cave as a refuge?

As they were still inside the barrier set up around the spring, Shen Yue did not worry about attracting the demon beasts supposedly watching over her. The vine/sapling inside his soul realm made sensing and absorbing the Power of Law incredibly easy. Even though it was the tree that was devouring the energy, the fire attribute bubble that was attached to the tree, was giving off a powerful aura of fire Law energy.

The rate that he was absorbing the pure Power of Law was astonishing once he entirely devoted his cultivation technique to the task. As none of the energy was used to increase his physique or soul force, his progress in gaining control over the Law was already at eleven percent in just two hours!

Taking a break, he left Yu Yan laying on the bank of the lake and exited the barrier. With her mind picked clean of useful information, it was easy to gain control enough to operate it. Shen Yue retraced his steps back to the cave entrance and updated his guards on the situation. He planned to spend a month here comprehending the Power of Laws. If anyone needed him, all they had to do was shout down the tunnel or communicate through his wives or top officers.

With his guards now understanding the situation, they quickly sent a man off to set up a rotation and inform the army that they had a month to train and hunt demon spirits in the Infinite Forrest. With no other worries, Shen Yue went back to the lake to improve his power over fire.

Unfortunately, he could not absorb the Law of Fire when he entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. He could still use the power and regain lost energy, but he could not absorb it into his overall comprehension. This was because only in the Tiny World, or a subsidiary realm, could he cultivate a particular Power of Law.

With this shortcut meeting a quick end, he instead used the opportunity to either increase the grade of demon beast spirits or train with Blaze, his lovable fire turkey. It took him a week to reach sixty percent in the Law of Fire, and Shen Yue thought this was enough to get Yu Yan back on her feet. The higher the percentage, the harder it was to cultivate. Although, his progress was astounding compared to the thousands of years it took the Spiritual Gods!

It was time to wake up his new miniature wife and have her grow to an acceptable size! Yu Yan opened her eyes and immediately professed her undying love and affection towards him, it was a bit awkward having his knee grasped by a naked midget.

After clothing herself while blushing, an hour later and she was up to speed about the situation and Shen Yue's future plans. During this time, he was continually monitoring her subconscious for any problems, but everything appeared to be ok. They were now ready to increase her cultivation.

Using the conduit that existed between their soul realms through the slave seal, Shen Yue pumped the power of Fire Law into Yu Yan. The effect was immediately noticeable, as her body started to glow red and her height was increasing slowly. An hour later and Yu Yan's Divine Spark was at sixty-three percent completion.

With Shen Yue imparting his knowledge on the mysterious inscription within the Law of Fire, Yu Yan could quickly retrain the Law of Fire and thus heal her Spark. Shen Yue's Fire Law had fallen to eight percent, and he was ready to train it back up. After all, with the overpowered tree in his soul realm, he could train all of the Laws up to just a step under Spiritual God!

The Temporal Destiny Seed of Creation had grown into the tree of cheats, making him incomparable in terms of cultivating. He could absorb all forms of Laws and energy, restrict demon beast spirits and even affect reality when it grew strong enough! The only downside was it took him longer to cultivate. But this was not a problem with his trusty training realm.

With Yu Yan growing back to her original height of 160cm, it was hard to keep his lustful thoughts at bay. After all the hard work of restoring her power and moulding her mind into a doting wife instead of a power-crazed psycho, it was time to be rewarded!


	37. Chapter 37

Since Yu Yan could only train in the Fire Law, Shen Yue decided to make the most of the area they were training in and absorb the Law of Water. This would stop him from stealing all the energy when cultivating the same Law next to each other.

Although there could only be one Spiritual God for each Law, that did not mean that no one else could train in that Law. It only stopped someone from taking the final step and merging with the Power of Law to become a Spiritual God.

Since the area was overflowing in the Water Law, Shen Yue's progress was five times as quick in understanding it compared to the Fire Law. A week later, when he had reached ninety-nine percent completion, he decided it was time to lure some demon beasts into a trap.

Looking over at the raging inferno that was Yu Yan, he yelled out for her to stop.

"It's time to take revenge for humankind, I plan to return the favour when the beasts drove us into hiding! We need to head to the desert to the east after retrieving my army." Said Shen Yue, driving Yu Yan's enthusiasm to the maximum level.

"Yes! I have waited for tens of thousands of years for this! Fate has brought you to me! You truly are the saviour I have been waiting for!" She gushed, as she hugged him passionately.

She was completely different from her aloof self when he had first met her. Yu Yan now gave off the feeling of a girl in love, and it was quite adorable. Of course, this was accomplished by brainwashing, so it was understandable about her drastic change in personality. There was no way the previous aloof Goddess would show a stranger such affection.

Looking down at the fiery beauty, Shen Yue couldn't help but become aroused.

"First, we head to the Endless Desert east of here. Not only will this help your cultivation speed, but it will also draw the attention of the new demon beast Spiritual God when you cultivate out from the barrier. Hopefully, he will charge arrogantly into our trap to save some lives of my men. But before that, I think we need to reward you for your hard work!" He said lustfully, as he wrapped his arms around the petite Goddess of Fire.

The little Fire Goddess blushed, but had an eager gleam in her eye as she tilted her head up to kiss the man that gave meaning to her entire existence! With a blissful moan, she eagerly removed her clothes and let herself be swept away by passion...

After he was finished relieving his lust, and both were presentable again, Shen Yue led the way through the traps. He gathered his guards and flew back to the village on the plateau.

He had drastically cut short his training time at the Black Spring once he realised the benefit of training in an environment suited to the Law being cultivated. As his Water Law had reached its maximum level without stepping into the realm of a Spiritual God, it was pointless to continue staying there.

As most of the army had free reign to hunt in the Infinite Forrest to harvest demon beast materials and spirits, he sent a mental command through his slave seal to order the officers to gather their squads. Since everyone could fly and cover a vast amount of ground quickly, it was not long before the thousand Heavenly Fate realm army had once again assembled.

As Shen Yue was not entirely a despot, the troops' harvest could be sold to the Family at a fair price. Even though he enslaved all his people, it was to protect against betrayal. Besides the several people Shen Yue brainwashed for selfish reasons, the majority enjoyed an affluent lifestyle with the profit they made serving the Nemesis Family. Just because he was a dictator, didn't mean he wanted his people to suffer!

The living standards of his subjects had increased dramatically after being assimilated into his burgeoning empire. Well, the people living as slave labourers or breeding machines would disagree. But he had given his enemies a choice. Since they chose to fight Shen Yue to the end, he didn't care how they were treated when he prevailed against them. They would not have been benevolent if it was him on the losing side!

After stocking up on supplies, the army headed into the desert to find a suitable location for a fight with the most powerful being on the planet! Shen Yue was really counting on Zhu Long's arrogance as a God to not look too carefully at the situation. He ended up just choosing a place deep in the desert where he could see the enemy approaching from a distance.

Something that had surprised and then delighted Shen Yue was that he had found hundreds of new books in his library. The last time he had checked it, was just before heading into the Black Spring.

After a quick investigation, he worked out that the library had scanned all the books Yu Yan had ever read when he sifted through her mind! It seemed that the limitation of needing an hour to search his enemies for books would be significantly reduced if he inscribed their souls with a slave seal.

This new influx of inscription patterns helped expand his library's base knowledge. This would help when it came time to extrapolate all the inscription patterns to create an inscription that suited his needs. Such as was the case now.

The first thing he had to do, was to set up the inscription array to capture Zhu Long. Unfortunately, Nie Li had not read many killing or sealing inscription arrays. But the ones he did, combined with Yu Yan's knowledge, had been modified into suitable traps that would severely limit Zhu Long's movement and strength.

The first inscription array that he had set up was designed to entrap Zhu Long so that the army could launch long-range attacks with impunity. The second array used Yu Yan as a focus and would cover the area in fire energy. Hopefully, this would limit the amount of ice energy Zhu Long could use in retaliation.

The first step was to lure in the two legend idiot brothers so they could bring in the big fish. As Yu Yan was creating a blazing firestorm, the rest of the army was creating defences to counter any attacks that they might receive by the powerful Ice Spiritual God. They were instructed to hide their cultivation level as best as they could, so as not to scare off the two legend rank beasts.

With the Fire Law being blatantly used, it was only ten hours later that dumb and dumber approached at high speed. If Zhu Long was this arrogant, then the battle was already half won! Not caring about the thousand people surrounding Yu Yan, the demon beasts approached.

They were only wearing cloth trousers and had all kinds of strange runes covering their bodies. The first demon beast was very well-built, but with a hunched over body and arms that looked like they belonged to an ape. He had an expression of disdain as he surveyed the small army assembled.

The second demon beast possessed a lean figure, and his hands resembled a hawk's claws. The bridge of his nose was sharp, his eyes glimmering with a chilling light. But he looked ridiculous with his face painted the colour of a rainbow.

"Wretched Yu Yan, we have finally found you. Since you're no longer hiding at that Black Spring turtle shell of yours, we'll show you a good time!" The well-built man bared his teeth, giving others an ominous feeling.

"Tsk tsk, I didn't expect your body to have already reformed. However, that's also something good. With such a petite body, there'll definitely be a different taste when playing with it!" The skinny one sinisterly said.

"Luqian Sha, Luqian Mo. Back then, both of you chased me to the Black Spring in an attempt to seize my shattered Divine Spark and have been guarding the Black Spring for many years. I never thought that both of you would still be alive! But today, I will have my revenge and kill you both!" Yu Yan coldly stared at her hated foes.

Although they were only Legend rank pinnacle existences, their bodies had been bestowed with a curse and couldn't be easily destroyed. Luqian Sha's origin is a Scarlet Shark while Luqian Mo is a Ghastly Chameleon. Of course, this didn't matter when they had stupidly approached a thousand Heavenly Fate experts! Even Yu Yan had enough strength to kill them with her Divine Spark mostly repaired!

Shen Yue was baffled by their arrogance, or maybe it was stupidity. Either way, before they could spew out any more threats, he gave the signal to capture them. A couple of minutes later, they were trussed up and unconscious. Shen Yue wanted to brand them so he could read their minds before he harvested their spirits.

The loot that was collected was worthy of recognition. The Green Poison Pearl filled with terrifying venom, a Legend rank Silvermoon long sword and a black dragon scale. He would give the sword and scale to Duan Jian when he returned to Glory City. It was nearly time for the starter cities to make contact, so he had a reason for the different races to walk around out in the open.

With the two demon beasts unconscious, it was a simple task to overpower their defences and enslave them. Even though they put up a fight, it was trivial when compared to being awake and in control. Their minds revealed some interesting things.

It seems that they could not perceive the cultivation levels of his men and had assumed that they were ordinary mortals! His men had been ordered not to reveal their auras, but they didn't actually have any particular ability to suppress their level. The Luqian brothers just didn't have any techniques to judge cultivation levels other than when a person's aura was exposed!

Thinking back to the novel, Nie Lie didn't have any ability to disguise his level either! Even though he was a thirteen-year-old gold ranked demon spiritualist, nobody had known until he revealed it in battle! When he had run around creating waves in the Draconic Ruins, only the supreme experts could see through him.

Shen Yue had overestimated his enemies, let's hope that Zhu Long was also unable to perceive the shit storm he was about to walk into!


	38. Chapter 38

The moment Shen Yue and his men killed the Luqian brothers, at the North Heavenly Ice Plains far from the St. Ancestral Mountains, a tall, slender figure sealed inside thick blue ice, opened his eyes. Zhu Long had sensed their deaths.

When Zhu Long became the new Spiritual God of Snow Wind, he had subjugated all of the legend-ranked demon beasts on the continent. He had long ago placed seals to inform him of his minion's death. Now that Yu Yan somehow escaped her prison, she could not be allowed to roam free and contest him for the control of Tiny World!

"I never imagined that that wretch, Yu Yan, would be able to escape from the Black Spring. Those two morons didn't even manage to look after her properly, not to mention letting her escape. They were even killed so easily. Useless!" His enraged voice sounded out through the fissure permeated with ice.

The frigid snow-laden wind that continually blew through the crevice had gathered around the handsome man as if he was an ethereal being of ice. The moment people laid eyes on him, they would get a suffocating feeling, causing their hearts to stop. Peculiar blue pinpricks of light gathered within the demon beast's eyes. They were revolving manifestations of his Power of Law.

"For many millennia I have concealed myself here, awaiting the moment of the seventh lotus's birth. Yu Yan, unless you present your Divine Spark to me, you will die!" The corner of his mouth twitched into a menacing smirk.

In the beginning, his Power of Law started off as streaks of light, then slowly bloomed into mysterious flowers that formed at his side. The first flower, then the second, third...until the sixth one. Now, only one bud remained. It was swelling as though it would burst into bloom at any moment.

His rage caused the temperature to drop significantly. Yu Yan killing his minions and defying his reign over Tiny World gave him the intensity needed to manifest the last lotus.

He had finally created seven lotuses of ice! The feeling was intense, the cumulative effect of thousands of years of training in solitude had paid off! The pure joy at accomplishing his goals produced the first genuine smile on his face in an eon. Zhu Long felt invincible! Even the Nether Lord would have to be cautious when facing him now.

Since the Luqian brothers had failed, he would have to dispose of Yu Yan himself. The Fire Spiritual Goddess was blatantly cultivating her Law, challenging his authority! Obviously, she had forgotten the lesson his demon beast brethren had taught her!

Flexing his muscles, the ice tomb he was sealed in instantly shattered. Rising into the air, he flew out of the frozen crevice and towards the Endless Desert. It would take two days of constant flying, as the Heavenly Ice Plains was quite a distance from the scorching desert.

Zhu Long did not stop at all as he flew towards the source of Fire Law being blatantly broadcast. The thought of that weak fire bitch challenging him drove him onwards at breakneck speeds. Her Divine Spark would soon be his!

Entering the desert, it did not take him long to spy the small army gathered around a giant bonfire. Upon closer inspection, there was a petite woman in a meditative pose sitting at the centre of the inferno. It seems she has recovered more than he thought, no wonder those idiots died.

He quickly scanned the humans around Yu Yan but could not detect any aura, either they were hiding their cultivation somehow, or they were baseline mortals. It did not worry him, as even the remaining Spiritual Gods would have to cower beneath his strength! It mattered not if Yu Yan had somehow managed to gather a thousand legend rank experts, they would be like wheat before the scythe when he attacked!

With nothing to fear from these pathetic humans, Zhu Long descended towards their camp. He could already hear the screams they would make as he tore them limb from limb! With a shudder of pleasure, he called out his challenge.

"Yu Yan you pathetic wretch, hand over your Divine Spark! I will finish what my ancestors started!"

Instantly the raging inferno ceased, and Yu Yan stared up at the newest edition of Spiritual Gods.

"Who are you to speak to me? Lowly Worm!" Said Yu Yan with disdain.

Zhu Long's handsome face morphed into a bestial snarl. "You dare? Your time is over human, your race is scattered and near extinction! Kneel, and I might keep you as a pet!"

It was Yu Yan's turn to scowl as she spat on the ground as if the mere thought of speaking to this demon beast produced a bad taste in her adorable little mouth.

"Since when has an unknown peasant had the right to speak to me? Your true form must be that of a dog to be barking this much!" She replied scathingly.

Seeing the rage on Zhu Long's face, Shen Yue knew that he would charge in recklessly. His plan to bait the demon beast into the array was all going to plan. With a signal, his men retreated and formed a semi-circle a distance behind Yu Yan.

Noticing the humans form up behind the Fire Goddess, Zhu Long's mouth contorted into a chilling sneer. An endless torrent of Snow Wind Law started to form around him, and for the first time in history, it snowed in the desert.

Yu Yan continued to follow the script Shen Yue had written for her.

"What's the matter you mutt? Want a bite?" As she said this, she bent over and slapped her posterior towards Zhu Long. Mocking him with her childish antics.

It proved to be the last straw for the God of Snow Wind, as Zhu Long yelled out in rage, charging at Yu Yan. His urge to physically beat the petite woman was his undoing.

Shen Yue activated the array to lock down Zhu Long's movements, causing the demon beast to plummet the last ten metres to the ground. The inscription array restricted him to a five-metre square and cut off his ability to fly. With a hundred Heavenly Fate experts fueling the inscription, it was impossible for a mere Spiritual God, even one as powerful as Zhu Long, to break free.

As soon as the enraged demon beast had chared at her, Yu Yan had retreated back towards the army. Finding the controlling core of the second inscription array, she hastily poured her Power of Law into it. Instantly, the temperature of the area raised significantly. Flames rose from the ground, eliciting a pained scream from the fiercest beast on the planet.

"Cowardly humans! You cant face me as an equal, so you use these cheap tricks?" Zhu Long furiously roared out.

Nobody answered him as they started to follow the next step of the plan. With Zhu Long's movement hindered and hopefully the power he could utilise dampened, the men took out iron javelins from their rings. With the first squad's officer commanding his men to fire, the fifty soldiers hurled them at the captured prey.

Seeing the incoming missiles, Zhu Long could only command the pure energy of Snow Wind to create a barrier while he tried to break the inscription array. Unfortunately, he underestimated the power that they were thrown with, and the ice wall was shattered into chunks of ice, already melting from the heat!

One of the javelins narrowly missed, tearing his robes at the waistline. With the terrifying heat encompassing the area he was trapped in, he would have to apply three times the amount of energy as he would normally! Since the terrain was against him, he could not even replenish his diminishing energy.

With the next wave of projectiles hurtling towards him, Zhu Long started to panic. Once again, he created a wall of ice, but this time twice as thick to block the iron wave of death. Drawing heavily on his energy reserves, he utilised the Power of Law to bring to life five ice dragons. Since his mobility was impeded, he could only use long-range attacks.

The ice dragons issued rage-filled howls, as they charged towards Yu Yan. The men detailed to her security unleashed waves of spears at the beasts of ice, gradually breaking more and more chunks off.

By the time they arrived in striking distance, they were like an arrow at the end of its flight. The fifty men that had merged with their demon spirits quickly destroyed them before they could harm the Goddess.

The power of the Heavenly Fate experts was overkill in this operation. If it wasn't for the fact that Shen Yue wanted to preserve the lives of his men, they could simply swarm Zhu Long and beat him like a red-headed stepchild.

Under the coordination of Shen Yue, the men continuously peppered Zhu Long with attacks. The key was to use the bare minimum of javelins to chew up his Law energy. It was amusing to hear the struggling God's curses as he was harassed into a frothing rabid state.

An hour later, and it was over. Being continually drained of energy and not being able to absorb any more Power of Law, the strength of his shield of ice was limited. Six javelins had broken through, turning him into a pincushion.

As a Spiritual God's body was created from their Divine Spark, these usually mortal wounds were not enough to kill the rabid mongrel. Fifty more spears of iron certainly ruined Zhu Long's day. Twenty men quickly approached the porcupine and restrained him, knocking the already senseless demon beast out. The last thought Zhu Long had was the regret that he could not even fully employ his newly created seventh lotus of ice!

Shen Yue was there in a flash to brand his soul and mine his brain for useful books. It was a rather anti-climatic fight, using traps and skill to overcome a stronger enemy. Nie Li probably would've charged in head first and used his plot armour to beat Zhu Long to death. Unfortunately, Shen Yue was not a risk taker and preferred to fight smarter, not harder!

The Spiritual God of Snow Wind only yielded a few cultivation techniques for demon beasts, and nothing exceptional. Shen Yue was now left with a decision to make. To rewrite Zhu long's memory and turn him into a loyal pet? Or set up a Demon Spirit Devouring Array to raise his soul force and hopefully his Snow Wind Law.

It was a tough choice to make. On one hand, Shen Yue would have a mighty guardian for his empire, but on the other hand, a Spiritual God would contain a lot of energy. It would be a tremendous boost to his cultivation.

Decisions, decisions!


	39. Chapter 39

Tiny World was Shen Yue's home base and was a safe haven to fall back to if there were ever any complications with the Sage-Emperor and his Deity minions. He had faith that if Nie Lie could destroy the protective barrier around the World, then he could at least tweak it to create an entryway for him to pass through. The other option of waiting five years was not going to work for him.

Tiny World was Shen Yue's home base and was a safe haven to fall back to if there were ever any complications with the Sage-Emperor and his Deity minions. He had faith that if Nie Lie could destroy the protective barrier around the World, then he could at least tweak it to create an entryway for him to pass through. The other option of waiting five years was not going to work for him.

But first, he had to unify Tiny World and become its ultimate ruler. According to Ming Fei, the Lord of Nether, there where two other powerful realms that could cause problems. The Abyss Realm and the Lava Realm that was mentioned apparently had experts that could threaten Zhu Long.

The Abyss Realm was different from the small Abyss Prison Realm that was now ruled by the Nemesis Family. Shen Yue first thought that it was one of the seventy-two realms of Tiny World and the mysterious old man was its Spiritual God. But after scouring Zhu Long's mind, it turns out that it was just created by an expert, possibly by Emperor Kong Ming.

He still had not been bothered by the crazy old man running around inside his territory, but now that he had the power to fight him, he was no longer worried about him. If the old man stuck his head out and caused any problems, Shen Yue didn't mind chopping it off!

Although Zhu Long knew of the other subsidiary realms of Tiny World, the location to the majority of them was still unknown to him. Shen Yue would need to capture the Nether Lord before he could think about subduing them. Even if he couldn't find them, he was not too worried as his cities would be protected by legend rank guards with Heavenly Fate experts as City Lords.

If the Spiritual Gods left their realms to cause trouble, they would be quickly overwhelmed, especially with Zhu Long overseeing security in the Empire's territory. This was the other main factor in Shen Yue's decision to keep the demon beast alive. Since demon beasts did not build cities, he planned to have them form teams of legend rank beasts to scout out new regions or patrol his lands.

One place that Shen Yue was keen to visit was the human race's Dreamcloud Realm. He would need to pick up Yu Yan's interspatial ring that she hid those many thousands of years ago. It contained Dreamcloud Rocks, the key to activating the teleportation array to travel to the Dreamcloud World.

Shen Yue had already gleaned the location of the teleportation array from Yu Yan, and the memories she had of that world made it a juicy target for conquest. Dreamcloud World was a rather large realm that is very wealthy and fertile, with flowers blooming all season long. It is only slightly smaller than the main world and is one of the last hold outs of the human tribe.

Unfortunately, the ring was several tens of thousands of miles away from Glory City, he would just have Yu Yan retrieve it once she finished training her Law in the desert.

Shen Yue was not in a hurry to invade subsidiary realms as they were full of unknown factors and held many demigod experts. First, he would conquer the six main continents that made up the Tiny World, then he would turn his gaze towards any subsidiary realm that did not bend their knee. He did not plan to leave any hidden dangers to strike at his home base when he left for higher realms.

Barring any anomalies like hidden masters, the mightiest expert they could summon was a Spiritual God. If by some ridiculous chance there actually was a supreme expert hiding in one of the realms, then they would have revealed themselves long ago. The Tiny World was a treasure trove of hidden artifacts, and no person living in this martial universe would give them over to demon beasts to chew on.

Of course, this did not include the Nether Realm. Shen Yue would definitely be subduing it as the portal to the Draconic Ruins was situated in the Death Realm, only accessible through the Nine-Layered Deathlands. The Nether Lord had long ago killed the Death Spiritual God and claimed his realm as part of the Nether Realm. To convince everyone that it was part of his domain was a masterstroke!

Shen Yue had always looked down on the Nether Spiritual God, Ming Fei. When Nie Li blindly trusted him and performed a Soul Seal, with Ming Fei as the master, Shen Yue wanted to reach into his PC screen and slap Nie Li like the little bitch he is! He allowed the Demon Lord to operate out of his Realm, and the Wugui Family invade Glory City! Ming Fei even bullshitted him saying he would look after Glory City when Nie Lie experienced first hand that he didn't even lift a finger to save it! To say he didn't know would be bullshit, he would have all paths into his realm under surveillance.

No, Shen Yue would definitely be enslaving that little Nether bitch and searching his mind for all its secrets! There was no way that he would ally with the Nether Lord and leave the petty snake to cause trouble. That was why he was silently helping the slapper in her plans to reach the Nether Realm to enlist help! A legitimate reason to banish the two retards and capture the Nether Spiritual God would be delightful.

With Zhu Long's hatred towards humans transformed into worship for Shen Yue, he was ready to carry out some orders. Since Shen Yue would not be around for long, he needed to set in motion plans to dominate the six continents. With that in mind, he gave out a list of objectives for Zhu Long to carry out.

\- Mark all Legend Rank Demon Beasts with an officer slave seal.

\- New officers enslave Black-Gold ranked beasts to form 100-man squads.

\- Share cultivation techniques to all branded demon beasts.

\- Humans are to left alone, but civilisations charted on a map.

\- Map out everything!

\- Worship the God Emperor!

Shen Yue had been thinking on how to call himself when there were people worshipped as actual Gods. Since he would rule over gods and had an empire, God Emperor seemed the logical choice. Plus, Sage-Emperor sounded pretty wussy!

Shen Yue had imparted the few cultivation techniques that Nie Li knew to Zhu Long. He had also given him inscription insights so he could advance his Law quickly. With him gathering a beast army and mapping out the continents, it would make it easy to scavenge ruins and absorb the scattered human tribes.

Since the Sage-Emperor was the God of all demon beasts, there was no way Shen Yue would let this continue in his domain. The Demon God Sect would not be mentioned any more in the Tiny World, only the all-powerful God Emperor that ruled over all! Shen Yue thought that this boosted his ego quite nicely and gave himself a pat on the back. With his narcissism on the rise, he turned to his army to give them their marching orders.

Since there were only minor injuries in the battle against Zhu Long, his men were ready to head out straight away. Leaving ten men to look after Yu Yan while she cultivated back to full strength, they flew into the air, heading towards his new settlements. It was time to see how well the progress in repopulating the world was going.

A day of flying at full speed later and they where overlooking the closest of the four new cities. It was situated in a vast fertile prairie, and the infrastructure was already quite advanced. Before, humans would never dare to build out in the open in fear of being overrun by demon beasts. But now that they had an army of legend rank soldiers, they walked where ever they pleased. Especially now that they were backed by Zhu Long!

Shen Yue had spent a long time designing the layout for his future cities, and they would all be identical. He would rather practical over beauty and created a plan that would hopefully take into account future growth. Each group had been given a thick guidebook and ordered to plan with attention towards expansion.

This group had chosen to build next to a lake fed by a small river. They had then dug out an extensive sewerage system that covered a gridlike pattern and would flush out into the grasslands. It was a square city with roads running straight as an arrow and wide enough to accommodate four wagons at once.

The buildings were marked out in different sectors depending on their functions. Since the city had one side against the river, the other three were open out to the prairie, with three main roads meeting in the town centre. This was the main market area and would be where all future stalls and shops would sell their wares.

Housing was situated upriver so there would be no contaminated water finding its way into homes and making the population sick. Downriver was the commercial district, where trade and manufacturing would take place. Any pollutants would be swept beyond the city limits, great care was taken to try and keep the water source as clean as possible.

Facing the prairie, was the city barracks and official buildings. With the construction still in its early stages, a wall and gates were not even close to being mapped out. Since their combat strength was so high, it would be the last thing built and factor in future expansion.

Shen Yue met with the commander of this twenty-five thousand strong force and was given a tour of the burgeoning city. Happy with what he saw, Shen Yue offered a few bits of advice and left two hundred Heavenly Fate guards to help out in sourcing building materials.

Since they were in a plain with little to no trees, they had set up a logging camp half a days flight away. With interspatial rings, the burden of resource transport was easily overcome.

With everything on course in this encampment, Shen Yue set off towards the other groups. He was not in a hurry and planned to cultivate different Laws as he toured his future cities.


	40. Chapter 40

Ye Ziyun wished she was back on Earth living in comfort. While not perfect, her life was very comfortable. She had been blessed with a loving family and good looks, a combination that made it easy to succeed in the western world. The hardest thing she had to face was whether or not to go out partying with her girlfriends.

Now she was in a world where self-flushing toilets were non-existent, and people face life and death challenges just to survive in this cruel world. Ye Ziyun had thought it would be a great adventure to live in one of her favourite fantasy novels.

This was her guilty pleasure, reading web novels and fan-fictions online. Not even her closest friend knew about her hobby as it would tarnish her reputation as one of the top socialites in her city. It would be totally embarrassing to be outed as a nerd.

When she had appeared before Alastor, the pervy God, she thought her friends had spiked her drink again! It was so unbelievable that the only explanation had to be that she was hallucinating! But her fears were quickly realised when He explained why she was there, and her future mission. Fortunately, He was as simple as most males and thought with his dick.

Just like all the other guys she had ever met, she was able to 'earn' some extra privileges with her looks. Men had always bought her things or helped whenever she asked, and she had become a professional at getting whatever she wanted. She had a sexy body and a beautiful face, why not use it? She had long ago thrown away her virginity and learnt that the most powerful weapon a woman had was her sex appeal.

Prostitution was the oldest profession in the world, and with today's standards of dating on tinder, sex was a common commodity. Sex sells, and Ye Ziyun had been rich! So when she learnt that she was to be reborn in the world of Tales of Demons and Gods, she chose the body of the most beautiful women available, Ye Ziyun. With the extra points she had acquired, she enhanced her future body to charm any male that had eyes.

Ye Ziyun had chosen the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal Pendant as her cheat because of its overpowered time abilities. She could quickly level the realm up with sex but had to be careful of Nie Li finding out. She planned to have him teach her his techniques and hold onto his leg as they dominate this universe. It would be devastating to her plans if he found her sleeping around.

If she was unable to use sex to level the realm, then she could just ask Nie Li for a technique to increase her spiritual strength. After all, that was how it actually increased its level. Coitus was just a quick fix by utilising the pendant to combine ying and yang to develop spiritual energy.

The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal was an overpowered cheat and the cheapest that was suitable for this universe. Ye Ziyun had been even happier when Alastor informed her that it would be removed from the list when she chose it. As the loser she was competing against could not earn points as she had, he would not be able to afford a decent cheat system.

But her happiness had come crashing down the day she had reincarnated. What had been the start of her adventure had turned into the beginning of her nightmare! Now that she thought about it, everything started to fall apart the moment she distanced herself from Shen Yue.

Now that 'Lord Voldemort' revealed himself, it was clear that he had moulded Shen Yue intro a trap for her to walk straight into. But how did he do it? He had clearly set things in motion years before she had joined the storyline. She cursed herself for the umpteenth time for not thoroughly checking the options on Alastor's list.

Even being drugged and found having sex with Nie Li did not worry her too much, as she had planned to give herself to him anyway. No, what really made her hate her current life was something she had never wanted to happen. She was pregnant! And the whole City knew!

She had felt a little nauseous but nothing like morning sickness, how did the entire City know before her? FUCK! That little shit from Earth must have done this! Ye Ziyun had been asked by her maid if the rumours were true, and an hour later the Family doctor had affirmed her condition.

Without missing a beat, she had asked if there was a way to terminate it, there was no way she was raising a kid in a fictional world. Her goal was to increase her power, survive as Nie Li did his thing, and then reincarnate back on Earth into a wealthy family. Having a child suckling at her breast was never in that plan!

Unfortunately, this question ended up causing her pain as her 'mother' slapped and yelled at her for being trash. Apparently, there was no way she was getting rid of it and would have to carry the child to term! Fuck that, there was no way she was going to become a mother.

Today she was meeting Nie Li, she needed to expedite their plans to elope to the Nether Realm for reinforcements. But how to get Nie Li on board with aborting the child?

"Ziyun! Is it true? Are you pregnant?"

Great, speak of the devil. "I'm afraid so, the child seems to have grown rather fast. The doctor thinks it might have something to do with the speed of my cultivation." She spoke with as much energy as a wet cat.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just worry that having a child now will derail our plans, we need to get help to fight Lord Voldemort!"

"Is that all, don't worry Ziyun. I can find the Nether Realm by myself, you just have to take care of yourself. Leave it to me!" Nie Li said with confidence.

Ye Ziyun knew straight away that she would not find an ally in this ginger idiot, would she really have to have this baby? She did not care about her 'parents', but she needed Nie Li and his plot armour to survive! Even if they ended up in different sects, Nie Li would find numerous resources to boost her strength.

Defeated, she could only find solace in the fact that she didn't have to traipse through the wilderness looking for a cave to the Nether World. She was dreading the fact that they would have to brave dangerous beasts just to enlist help against that arsehole from Earth! How did it all go so wrong!

Nie Li was running along a mountain path. It had been a month since he found out he was going to be a father, and it was hard to keep the grin off his face. Even the hellish hours of pill refining could do little to dampen his joy! But he got the feeling that Ye Ziyun was not as happy about it as he was, then again, he was over three hundred years old, while she had died at the age of fifteen. It was natural to be a bit apprehensive about becoming a mother at a young age.

Since he could not risk any harm to his child, Nie Li had to make this trip alone. They had originally planned to leave together, but with Ye Ziyun in a fragile condition, he thought it best for her to remain at home with her parents. It was to easy for something unexpected to happen and cause damage to the baby.

Nie Li was staking everything on this trip. By leaving the Immortal Elixir Guild without permission, he voided the contract that he and his Family signed. Unless he received the backing from this Nether Lord, his Family would become slaves! He could not afford to fail.

Three days later, Nie Li had finally found the cave marked on his map. It had taken a lot of searching as there was only a general area marked. Ye Ziyun researching abilities were incredible, she had found evidence of a supreme master living in a separate realm and even found the entry to his domain! Apparently, thousands of years ago, humans had retreated from the demon beasts to this realm under the protection of the Nether Lord.

They could only hope that he would help Glory City regain its rightful lord. Nie Li had confidence in his ability to offer something enticing enough to get the Spiritual God's help. He was also curious about what a god was, maybe it was just a native Heavenly Fate expert that had explored the Draconic Ruins.

Nie Li had just reached the Gold rank before he felt strong enough to make this trip. The pills the Immortal Elixir Guild had him making cut short his predictions by two months! Unfortunately, the best demon spirit he could find to integrate with was a Golden Horned Land Dragon with a good growth rate. This was the demon spirit that Ye Han would have used if he had joined the Snow Wind Family. When Shen Yue saved Ye Rou, it negated the reason for his adoption.

The Golden Horned Land Dragon was as defence type demon beast that could perform vicious physical attacks with its hammer-like tail, as well as a fire breath attack called 'Raging Flames of the Dragon'. Although it was a strong demon spirit, it lacked versatility like the Shadow Devil. Nie Li could not find any other demon spirit worthy of contracting, leaving him with limited options during a fight.

As soon as Nie Li entered the Nether Realm, he saw that the ground was filled with cracks flowing with blazing magma and billowing out white smoke in bursts. The whole world was filled with the smell of sulphur.

Suddenly, when Nie Li walked forward, a chirping sound was heard coming from the surrounding area. Shadowy figures appeared in Nie Li's line of sight. Their bodies were black in colour, with sharp ears and they were looking at Nie Li with eager expressions. It was Dark Elves!

Suddenly, three Dark Elves of Gold-rank strength pounced towards Nie Li. They probably felt that they were stronger than him, which is why they took action. It would be the last mistake they ever made!

Nie Li's body underwent a transformation and turned into a human-looking Golden Horned Land Dragon. Before the Dark Elves could get close enough to attack, a giant spiked hammer-like tail whipped around and turned them into mangled heaps of flesh. With Nie Li's fighting experience, these small fries were mere ants waiting to be stepped on!

Nie Li transformed back to his original self and continued to walk towards the city in front, the city gate was already in sight. He never thought that there would be such a realm that would have all kinds of races that look different from one another, walking about.

There were Troglodytes, Dark Elves, Golems and Tailed Men actually living lives similar to that of a human's. They were shouting all kinds of slogans, buying and selling all kinds of stuff, making Blackrock City bustle with activity.

In the Blackrock City's streets, Nie Li wore a black cloak as he quietly walked down the streets while looking around. With so many inhabitants, it would be easy to find out how to contact the Master of the Nether Realm. Soon, he would be back with his beloved Ziyun, and hopefully, at the head of an army!


	41. Chapter 41

Shen Yue was smiling, he looked like Mr Burns when he says his famous line. 'Excellent' pretty much summed up how his plans were going, it was almost too easy to prod the two idiots in the direction he wanted.

Since the Earth slapper knew about the Nether realm, but not how to get there, it was easy to enslave her maid and pass information through her. Since he had gleaned the whereabouts of the entry to the Nether Realm through the minds of the Dark Guild captives, he just had a map rendered onto a scroll with the approximate location marked and slipped it to the maid to put with all the other reference books.

Ye Ziyun had been searching through the Snow Wind Family archives when she was not cultivating. Since her only option for advancement lay in leaving Glory City and the influence of 'Lord Voldemort', she had read every book with any reference to other civilisations or Gods.

When she had 'struck gold' with his forged scroll, the terrible twosome had immediately planned their expedition. The maid had forwarded any snippets of information she overheard, and the pair had been walking the road of no return ever since.

Any roadblock to their plans was quietly removed to ensure they would not think to back out or ask a sensible person for help. If anyone heard they wanted to enlist a non-human to overthrow the City Lord, they would have been slapped into oblivion!

With Nie Li 'stealing' pills to hasten their cultivation, it had only taken them a month to gain sufficient strength to make the journey. Since Shen Yue had let slip Ye Ziyun's condition, it also had the added benefit of keeping her in Glory City and under the watchful eye of her mother. He had been a bit worried about how he was going to get his baby back if they went to ground in another Realm.

Luckily, they had misjudged the importance of Nie Li breaching his contract, and the fact that Ye Ziyun was now considered part of his family. Even though they were not officially married, they were engaged, and she was supposedly pregnant with his child. In the eyes of the law, she was now also accountable along with the Heavenly Marks Family if Nie Li failed to uphold the contract he and his Family signed.

He guessed they thought that when he returned with a posse of Demi-Gods, it would fix any of the consequences of his abrupt disappearance. The winner was king, and the loser was the thief! It really was an 'all in' sort of plan. Did she really not think that a person who reincarnated before her, dominated Glory City, would not have any contingency strategies?

They made it way too easy for him to win the first confrontation. Granted, Shen Yue had a massive head start and an unfair advantage, but she also had an unfair advantage. She had whored herself out for extra points, where he had to blackmail Alastor with a technicality. Shen Yue was sick of women complaining about being objectified and then turning around and using their bodies to gain advantages. Pick one creed and stick to it!

Shen Yue was currently in the City Lord's mansion planning their defence for when Nie Li returned. He had mentally called back Yu Yan so they would have the moral high ground if a theological excuse to legitimise a hostile change in government was used. A 'righteous' human Spiritual God of Fire trumped a 'dark' Nether God of an unknown species.

Since they didn't want to risk any damage to the city or collateral damage, they set up the ambush at the City limits closest to the exit of the Nether Realm. They could not move too far away from the City, as they needed witnesses to Nie Li's betrayal of Glory City by invading with a foreign force! A team of one hundred Heavenly Fate experts were sent to monitor the Realm exit to give advanced warning and block off any retreat.

With the defence plans satisfied, it was time to move onto his schemes for the Earth trollop. With a legitimate reason to imprison her, Shen Yue planned to knock her out and advance her pregnancy in the Violet Jade Immortal Realm. When the baby was born, he could out her as an imposter and reintroduce the real Ye Ziyun!

Alastor would have no grounds to interrupt, as he would only be banishing her and Nie Li to a Subsidiary Realm of one of the Draconic Ruin Sect's Spiritual Gods. With them out of the way, there would be no hidden dangers to disrupt his plans. The only thing that worried him was that they would all be starting off at the same levels once they stepped through the portal to the Draconic Ruins.

The City Guards were dispatched to the Snow Wind Family to gather the harlot and the heads of Heavenly Marks Family. Su Qiang himself went to fetch Ye Ziyun as there could be no mistakes with her capture, damage to the baby or her escape would create a headache Shen Yue didn't need.

With fifty guards, the City Lord reached the new Snow Wind Families residence. Although not as luxurious as the City Lord's Manor, it was still a beautiful estate that any other Family would kill for. It had been used as a holiday mansion to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and the stress of public scrutiny.

Located just outside the City boundaries, it was barely large enough to house the Family. With its opulent gardens and stately courtyards, it was still sufficient to ensure their status as one of the most influential Families in Glory City.

Su Qiang and his men approached the compound quickly to give no chance for Ye Ziyun to escape. With a few men covering all escape routes, the City Lord reached the main gate and demanded them to hand over the criminal Ye Ziyun.

This world had rather broad rules that included the entire family in a minority's actions when breaking the law. Although the City wanted to keep its fighting strength up, it would not hesitate to cull anything that harmed the welfare of the City.

This could be seen in the original storyline with the extermination of the Sacred Family. Sure, there were many 'bad eggs' in the Family, but no mention was made of any innocent people that were oppressed by Shen Hong, or the guards hired to protect the compound. Surely the entire Family was not willing to betray Glory City.

Moments later, Ye Zong, Ye Rou and a few guards approached the main gate to assess the situation.

"What is the meaning of this Voldemort? Ziyun has not left our sight, so it is impossible for her to have committed any crimes!" Said Ye Zong angrily. He felt that his Family was being hounded until they collapsed. Where the hell was Ye Mo?

"That is City Lord or Lord Voldemort, Zong! Your daughter's husband has violated his contract with the Immortal Elixir Guild and disappeared, as part of his family, Ye Ziyun is to remanded into custody to await sentencing." Replied the annoyed City Lord. Even after becoming a noble himself, he still hated their arrogant manner.

"Impossible! There is no way that someone would damn his family into slavery over a six-month contract of service! Besides, Ziyun is not married to the brat!" Counted Ye Zong.

"That is where you are wrong, he dared to commit the crimes and incriminate his Family in the first place, what makes you think he wouldn't throw them away to join the Dark Guild? You know very well that as an engaged, expectant mother, she is deemed under the law to be his wife. She will be taken into custody to await trial on Nie Li's capture. Any that interfere will be breaking the law and killed for attacking a City Guard!" Said Su Qiang smugly, as a previous character at the bottom of the social ladder, he loved to watch nobles suffer.

Clenching his teeth in frustration, Ye Zong quickly tried to think of any way to overrule her status as Nie Li's wife. This would be a simple matter to pardon if he was still the City Lord. Unfortunately, Lord Voldemort was within his rights to lawfully arrest his idiot daughter. At his side, Ye Rou was also frustrated at the situation.

She had planned the perfect wedding with Shen Yue as the groom, then along came this red-headed retard to not only ruin her daughter's reputation but drag the entire Family down! Maybe she could ask little Yue for leniency for old times sake, she knew that he had enough influence with the City Lord to help.

Without any further problems, Ye Ziyun was escorted out to the front gate. She had confidence that she would soon be released, and this masked moron on an ego trip would take her place in prison! Even if he reached the legend rank, there was no way he could fight against a Spiritual God and a plethora of Demi-Gods!

"So this is the famous tramp that turned down little brother Shen Yue for a farmer. We have not been properly introduced, but since you are the 'used goods' of a petty criminal, there is really no reason for us to be!" Su Qiang said as he laughed in her face.

The Snow Wind Family's reactions were priceless as they silently received the disrespect bestowed upon them. Before Ye Zong could say anything, two guards grabbed Ye Ziyun, and the group headed back to the City. When they were halfway back, the slapper could no longer hold her tongue.

"Enjoy your life as the City Lord while you can, when Nie Li returns, you will be shown the same courtesy you have shown me!" She spat out with contempt.

"You really think I have not made contingency plans against Spiritual Gods? The entire Tiny World will be mine to rule over, while you will just be a whore for Alastor and Nie Li! I suggest you close your mouth, but keep your legs open, as you will need all the bargaining power you can find when you are charged with treason for attacking Glory City with a foreign army!"

Before the astounded Earth hussy could respond, she was knocked unconscious when Su Qiang gave the signal the guards holding her. After vocalising the script that Shen Yue had prepared, this imposter would be kept in a coma. She would be carried into the young Master's personal realm so they could claim the Nemesis Family heir earlier!

It was a shame that the Deity prohibited her death otherwise Su Qiang would simply kill this pretender after she gave birth. Not only would they be able to reinstate the real Ye Ziyuin, but it would cut out any future problems! Curse this Alastor Deity for choosing this world to send these two pieces of garbage.


	42. Chapter 42

Shen Yue looked into the cell to see his annoying enemy, he had cleared the jail so he could deal with this problem alone. She wore the face of his wife but had the personality of a hypocrite from Earth. He wished he could just enslave or kill her, but God wanted a protagonist to his antagonist. Nie Li didn't count, as he could be killed off easily with foreknowledge.

He wondered what Nie Li and the slapper would do when he stopped Ying Yueru from taking on Nie Li's fate. Having a Deity Demon Beast chasing you through the Draconic Realm would make things challenging! Speaking of Deities, Shen Yue had forgotten that only people that he had a connection with could enter his private Realm.

But Alastor had prohibited him from doing precisely that. Since Alastor had made the rules and wanted to see an entertaining conflict between them, Shen Yue had reasoned that he could just pray for a solution!

"Oh mighty God Alastor, hear the plea of your faithful follower! This bitch can't be taken into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal so that I can retrieve my child. If you could solve this problem for me, then I can exile her and Nie Li to a Subsidiary Realm where they could train until the Draconic Realm opens up. Amen" Said Shen Yue, hopefully invoking the capricious Gods interest. He really didn't want to have to put up with her until the baby was born.

Suddenly a blue screen appeared in front of his eyes.

[ Congratulations! Your prayers have been heard and answered by your God, Alastor! Since the suffering of your opponent has grown stale and boring, He has decided to grant your request! Continue to serve your God well, he is most pleased with your progress so far! ]

With a flash of light, the fake Ye Ziyuns stomach started to grow until she looked ready to burst! Stepping out into the hallway where Su Qiang waited with some guards, he ordered them to quickly prepare the room they had arranged for Ye Ziyun's future childbirth. It was equipped with a birthing chair with restraints.

As soon as she was strapped in, Shen Yue left the room, but not before giving 'Lord Voldemort' some more taunts. Ye Ziyun was brought back to consciousness just as her water broke, not a situation that was ideal to be suddenly thrust into! Faced with a slow trickle of fluid escaping her nude body and contractions of pain attacking her, she could only incoherently scream around her ballgag at the people staring at her.

Su Qiang chose this time to hurl his scripted insults at her, just as she was comprehending the situation she now found herself in.

"You must be confused at how you are suddenly nine months pregnant and about to give birth. I really must thank you for that pendant, it has helped my plans immensely! Now, I know that women are way better than men at handling pain, so I decided to let you experience childbirth without any sedatives or pain killers, do your gender proud! Try not to shit yourself as your vagina tears that would be more mess to clean up later."

Her eye widened in fear at the mention of tearing vaginas and no drugs to counter the pain. Sadly, even with her black-gold strength, she could not break her restraints. Three hours of muffled screaming and cursing later, a newborn baby's cries were heard. It was a healthy baby boy with wisps of dark hair scattered over his head.

Ye Ziyun was a wreck, even with her superhuman strength the pain of childbirth could only be shortened to three hours of torture. With a face full of tears, she was panting as she lay back into the birthing chair spent of energy. She promised to herself that this would never happen again, no more kids!

Su Qiang made an appearance and was handed a cleaned heir to the Nemesis throne. He ordered everyone to leave as he had one last order of business. With a smile on his face, he turned to Ye Ziyun to deliver the last words she would hear in the Tiny World's main Realm.

"I must thank you for doing all the work for the real Ye Ziyun, that did not look like a fun experience. Yes, you heard correctly, the real Ziyun is alive and not at all happy with you hijacking her body! Now that her baby is born you have no further use, you will be kept in a coma until Nie Li is captured. Have fun explaining why the baby wasn't his or that you are not the real Ye Ziyun! See you in the Draconic Realm." Finishing his speech, he injected her with a sedative and left the room.

Shen Yue looked at the baby in Su Qiang's arms and couldn't help but smile at the cute little munchkin. Stroking its head, he marvelled that he was now a father. Still, Shen Yue held off holding the child until it was a bit older. The baby looked so fragile that he didn't want to accidentally hurt the little guy by holding him wrong or something.

The next day a disguised Ziyun arrived at the Nemesis mansion from his Abyss Realm as there was no reason she should not be with her child. A nurse had been found to feed the noisy little guy.

Shen Yue spent the next week surrounded by his wives and cooing over the baby. Whenever one of them got a bit too clucky and started to have thoughts of a baby of their own, he reminded them of how the imposter spent three hours screaming in pain. With their future uncertain in the Draconic Realm, there was no time to have a child.

Not very good at naming children, Shen Yue ended up calling his son Shen Taro. As Ziyun had no problem with it, it was decided. Since it would be dangerous to take a small child into the Draconic Ruins, Shen Yue had the brilliant idea of raising the munchkin in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. By the time the portal opens, Shen Taro would be old enough to start training.

With a happy family and everything planned and ready, all they could do was wait for Nie Li to come back to Glory City at the head of an army. They didn't have long to wait. Three weeks later Shen Yue received a message from those guarding the Nether Realm entrance. Five hundred people had followed the red-headed tosser out of the cave and were heading towards Glory City at a leisurely pace.

Sending out the order to prepare the welcoming party, Shen Yue got dressed ready for battle. Since everything was planned in advance, there was little to do, he could only make sure the men were in position.

Shen Yue met Su Qiang at the city gate as they waited for the heads of the other Families to arrive. Two thousand city guards with one thousand of them Shen Yue's men in disguise already waited at the outskirts of the city where they would battle the invaders. They just needed witnesses.

By the time Nie Li arrived, everyone was in place and waiting for him. The smug little shit was even at the head of the army in plain view! Shen Yue scanned the five hundred men assembled trying to identify the Nether Lord.

"Lord Voldemort, your reign is over. Surrender peacefully and accept your punishment! Only the Snow Wind Family can be the Lord of the City, you have usurped their power illegally!" Nie Li didn't waste any time denouncing Su Qiang. Trying to give his little coup a legitimate excuse.

With Glory City's nobles in attendance and on Su Qiang's side, this reason was pretty questionable. They had even brought Nie Hai and Nie Ming along to denounce this retard once and for all.

"You idiot child, what have you done? All you had to do was keep your head down for six months and work! Now you have bankrupted two Families and condemned our Family to slavery! I should have killed you the first time you fucked up! I had hoped you had only been a bit rebellious, but now you have actually started a rebellion! From now on you are no longer part of the Heavenly Marks Family!" Shouted Nie Ming in anger, his whole face was red, and he was visibly trembling in rage.

Nie Li's mouth had dropped open in shock as he stared at his father in disbelief! To have his father disown him in front of the force he gathered, was a devastating blow. Not to mention the heads of the Noble Families staring at him with schadenfreude.

Su Qiang stepped forward before Nie Li could overcome his shock. "Nie Li, you have aligned yourself with the Dark Guild and lead a raid on Glory City. Surrender now, and you will be given a fair trial. That goes for the rest of you criminals! Where is the leader, the so-called Nether Lord?"

"What are you talking about? The Nether Lord is not part of the Dark Guild! He is not even here, he just lent me these men to depose you and reinstate Ye Zong!" Shouted Nie. He was seriously getting pissed off!

"You idiot child, do you not even know who you work for? These men are from the Nether Realm, where the Dark Guild is based, where the Nether Lord has absolute power! Are you trying to tell me that he does not, at the very least, condone their actions? Laughable! Since the Nether Lord is not even here, then that makes this easy. Attack!" Yelled Su Qiang.


	43. Chapter 43

Without a Spiritual God to protect them, Nie Li's group were quickly subdued. Shen Yue had planned to defend against the Nether Lord and thousands of Demi-Gods, this pitiful bunch only had ten and no God. If he didn't want to capture some of them, then it would have been over in seconds.

When Su Qiang gave the order to attack, Shen Yue had his men activate the secondary array they had set up. There was no reason to waste resources on legend ranked thugs. The five hundred invaders were suddenly enveloped in a net of lightning, eliciting pained cries and the smell of charred flesh.

As soon as it ended, the already transformed defenders surged forward while yelling for surrender or death. Two thousand soldiers integrated with their demon spirits against heavily injured and unprepared enemies was an overwhelming advantage.

If any of the Nether Realm force put up any resistance, they were put down with extreme prejudice. There would be no sympathy for any form of resistance, better to kill an enemy than let your guard down and be killed instead. Besides, Shen Yue only needed some of them alive for their memories, not all of them!

The only enemy that was guaranteed to live was Nie Li. Shen Yue had given orders for him to be captured alive, as he didn't want to disregard Alastor's edicts totally. But if the little shit was fried to death by the lightning array that would just be an unfortunate accident!

Too bad the turd burglar was protected by plot armour, he had managed to come out mostly unscathed. He was dumped in front of Su Qiang with a broken nose and light burns over his body. The six Demi-Gods and two hundred or so legend warriors that survived were in much worse condition. How a gold rank survived an array that practically charred legend ranks were unbelievable. Too bad he was an enemy, after all, there was only room for one egotistical dictator in this world!

"You are lucky that the men had orders to capture you alive brat. Otherwise, you would be dead like the rest of those that resisted instead of receiving just a broken nose.

Since your guilt is apparent to all gathered here, you and your wife will be exiled instead of executed. The Heavenly Marks Family has shown to be worthy of their Family name by making an effort to follow the law at every opportunity, we have decided to reward them by not making a spectacle of your death and marring their honour.

You will be sedated until we have dealt with the Nether Lord and his Dark Guild, then you will be banished to a subsidiary realm never to return under pain of death! Glory City does not need people that would sell them into slavery to another race!" After Su Qiang condemned Nie Li, he spat in his face, then gave the order for the guards to knock him out.

Shen Yue gave a sigh of relief, his two most annoying problems would remain sedated until he could pawn them off to one of the Spiritual Gods that were part of a sect in the Draconic Ruins. Su Qiang spitting on Nie Li had brought a smile to Shen Yue's face. The proud, three-hundred-year-old, self-righteous ballsack looked like he was going to explode from anger before he was sedated. Thinking about what to do with his bothersome opponents, he decided he might as well throw them to the Phaseless Sect ambassador since the sect has the crazy bastard Xiu Ming in it.

Xiu Ming practised a cultivation technique called Sky Annihilation Heart Chant. This led to him slaughtering the entire population of the Phaseless Sect to advance his cultivation, even his parents and clansmen weren't spared from the massacre. Shen Yue was sure that Nie Li would feel right at home with another psychopathic idiot that would do anything to attain his goal.

The most important thing though was that he could now out Nie Li and the slapper from Earth. With the heads of Glory City's nobles present and the two idiots in custody, now was the perfect time to do so. Bringing out the real Ye Ziyun would hopefully force Alastor to break the compulsion that stopped everyone doubting the slapper was an imposter.

Hopefully, it would also repair the rift between him and the Snow Wind Family. The Heavenly Marks Family could also be released from the beatdown they were receiving. With luck, setting the two Families up as City Lords in his future expansion of Tiny World will go a long way to repairing the rift created by the two retards being apart of their family.

Shen Yue told Su Qiang to take the nobles back to the City Lord's mansion and to gather Ye Zong and Ye Rou along the way. It was time to restore Ziyun's honour, and break the news that Nie Li was an 'imposter'. An hour later, when everyone present, Su Qiang called out for silence to the gathered nobles.

"What's this about Lord Voldemort?" Asked Ye Zong with a bit of respect, suspicion and caution. After all, the last time he had seen the man was when he reminded him of his title and imprisoned his daughter.

"I've assembled you all here because of something that happened on the first day of the Holy Orchid Institute." Su Qiang began before he was interrupted.

"Yes, yes we all know my idiot daughter and that peasant disgraced themselves. No need to keep throwing it in my face! If this is why you brought me here, then I'm leaving!" Shouted out a furious and embarrassed Ye Zong.

"Actually, you are only half right. I am talking about that incident, but it was not your daughter performing that shameful deed." Before the confused crowd could interrupt, Su Qiang continued.

"You see, I have been teaching Shen Yue since he was a small child. That day he ran away from the Sacred Family, we met accidentally, and he became my student. So when he came to me with the soul of his little girlfriend, and a story of an imposter taking over her body, I was willing to help. Unfortunately, he could only save one of the two souls that were ejected from their bodies that day." Su Qiang turned to where Ye Ming was sitting and gave him a short bow.

"I can only apologise that my student could not save your son, but he barely managed to save Ye Ziyun's soul, and only had one container that could hold a soul." As he said this, Shen Yue walked into the room with Ye Ziyun holding their child.

"Mum, Dad, you really are stupid. I can't believe you believed that slut was me!" Said a pouting Ziyun.

A glazed look appeared on everyone's faces as Alastor must have undone the mind trick that was cast over the city. Thankfully Alastor did, or this conversation would have been quite complicated. Before a tearful Ye family reunion could take place, a confused Nie Hai asked for clarification.

"What do you mean that imposters took over their bodies? How was that even possible?"

"Halfway through class, there was a sudden mysterious pulse of soul force from Ziyun and Nie Li. When I scanned Ziyun, I saw her soul ejected from her body. Before it could dissipate, I bound it to a soul lantern. So as not to draw the attention of the invaders, I had to act as if nothing happened.

They had basic knowledge of us, and they tried to make excuses to distance themselves from me before leaving the class. When the class ended, I rushed to Lord Voldemort and told him everything." Said Shen Yue, playing his part that they had rehearsed beforehand.

"Just as I planned to capture and reinsert Ziyun's soul back into her body, I was forcibly contacted by a self-proclaimed 'Deity'. The things he told me and the fact that he could remotely snuff out peoples souls, led me to believe he could follow through on his threats if I interrupted his 'fun'.

He claimed that his two students were on a training exercise in this realm. We were allowed to fight and disgrace them, but we could not expose or kill them. He even cast a city-wide spell that made it seem that Ye Ziyun was just 'acting out'! Thankfully he seems to have undone it as his students have been captured."

Su Qiang looked around the room at the different faces on the Families gathered, he could see their faces change as their minds comprehended the information he had revealed to them. Nie Ming had tears running down his face as he came to terms that his son had already been dead for several months.

Chen Zhenlong was the first to process the news that they had been played by an all-powerful God. "If you knew that Nie Li and Ye Ziyun were intruders masquerading around in their bodies, why did you destroy their Families?"

"Because we could not let them use the resources of their Families. We had to isolate them so we could drive them into a corner and legitimately capture them. Do you honestly think that I didn't want just to beat them like a red-headed stepchild? I had to work within this Deity's rules. Otherwise, He would snuff me out like a candle!

Even now we can only banish them to a subsidiary realm so they can continue training! It seems that we have been quite ignorant about the outside world, there are higher levels of cultivation and many different Realms above ours!" Su Qiang then informed the nobles of Spiritual Gods, the Heavenly Fate realm and all the other information Shen Yue wanted them to know.

A few hours later, the Family heads of Glory City now knew their position in the universe, at the bottom! They had also been informed of the City Lord's new projects and conquests. Yu Yan and Zhu Long had been introduced, and their positions made clear. By the end of the briefing, they were thoroughly reminded they were mere frogs living in the bottom of the well.

Luckily, 'Lord Voldemort' was there to save them! But first, they had to take care of an adversary that had been plaguing Glory City for many years. The Dark Guild!


	44. Chapter 44

The Dark Guild had been on Shen Yue's shit list since they coordinated with Shen Hong to kidnap him as a child. The Demon Lord was too serious of a threat to just leave alone. It would be incredibly foolish to allow him to develop in the Draconic Realm and hinder Shen Yue's future plans.

Besides, the Demon Lord was an old monster with techniques that let him rival Nie Li. His memories were too tasty to not absorb into his library! With a smile plastered on his face as he thought of new knowledge, Shen Yue started planning the campaign for their righteous invasion of the Nether World!

They had the moral high ground, superior troops and intelligence of the enemy territory and forces. The soldiers that had surrendered had already been enslaved, and their memories added to his growing library. Shen Yue was quickly becoming a bibliomaniac with his love of gaining new books in his Library of Heaven's Path.

There were a total of fifteen cities in the Nether Realm, each with a mixture of twelve different tribes that live there. The people are safe from the Demon Beasts that plague the main world, and instead, spend most of their time in conflicts between the powerful Clans and Families.

Even though they are safe, the humans that live in the Nether Realm would like nothing more than to leave as it is not comfortable to continuously live underground. The food and beverages in the Nether Realm are displeasing to the human palate, adding to the problem. However, most do not believe it is possible to survive on the surface because of the Demon Beasts and have long since forgotten how they arrived.

Weirdly, even with fifteen different races, their technology had declined. In the whole Nether Realm, there are only six inscriptionists. This limited knowledge of inscription patterns has made quality weapons and armour extremely valuable. This would also be an advantage when invading, superior weapons and armour will only hasten Shen Yue's victory.

Blackrock City was the closest city to the entrance of the Nether Realm and also home to the Dark Guild. It would be the first city to fall and also serve as a warning to the rest of the Realm. There was only surrender or death! Shen Yue planned to exterminate any rebellious elements with extreme prejudice, hopefully eliminating future problems and cowing the rest of the cities when he presented witnesses to the city's fall.

Although this could have an adverse effect of uniting the rest of the populace against him, Shen Yue didn't really care. It would be training for his troops, and besides, they had nowhere else to go! He doubted that the other subsidiary realms would be willing to accept a defeated realm's population and risk the enmity of Shen Yue.

After all, they remained neutral against the Demon Beasts, and watched the Human Race practically become extinct! Only the Nether Lord housed some refugees while the rest watched on as the Demon Beasts devoured billions of people. Shen Yue would only be too happy for these Spiritual Gods to step out and give him a legitimate reason to invade.

For this incursion, Shen Yue planned to leave the Demon Beasts to dissuade any attacks and take the majority of human Legend and Heavenly Fate experts to attack. Everyone would be dressed in Glory City's new guard uniforms to show a united front. Also, to hide that the majority of the experts served his Nemesis Family, the last thing he needed was for his real strength to be exposed.

With an estimated army of just over eighty thousand soldiers, Zhu Long, Yu Yan and Su Qiang leading them, it should be enough to subdue any resistance they encounter in the Nether Realm. Especially since they would be taking them by surprise, not giving them time to gather a consolidated force to resist. But they would still have to be careful, they would be outnumbered.

Shen Yue knew that most of the experts of the Nether Realm that participated in Nether Lord disciple selection were the majority of experts they had. In total, there are between one-two hundred thousand Demigod, Legend, and Black Gold rank experts that entered.

But a ruthless blitzkrieg operation should be enough to combat being outnumbered. Especially since the enemy will be spread out over fifteen cities and Shen Yue's forces will be acting as a single army. Even if they somehow managed to be forced to retreat, the entrance to the Nether Realm will become a choke point that could be easily defended and used to stage attacks.

Shen Yue and Su Qiang spent the rest of the day finalising the invasion strategy and contingency plans. With only the Nether Lord and Dark Guild aware of foreign forces, it would be easy to catch everyone by surprise. But they will have to act quickly, as the Nether Lord will become aware of their presence as soon as they enter his domain.

Two days later, just as the last of the army was arriving, there was an unexpected arrival. Ye Mo had finally made an appearance after everything was over, which was probably a good thing. It removed any complications that could have arisen if he had been there to interfere with Shen Yue's plans.

Su Qiang was sent to meet him at the Snow Wind Family compound to make sure he understood his place in the new Glory City's hierarchy. If he didn't, then Su Qiang had permission to beat the shit out of him. If that was still not enough to curb any rebelliousness, then he was to be killed. The new Empire did not need any conflict from an old regime.

That was also something that Shen Yue needed to address. Now that Glory City's hierarchy had been imparted vital information of the broader system of power, it was time to induct them into the Empire and worship of the God-Emperor.

Like the Sage-Emperor, the God-Emperor would remain nameless as Shen Yue did not want to suffer under attacks from any foe unhappy with his Empire or envious of his position. Su Qiang and Zhu Long would be his representatives and settle any disputes. Any malcontent would be extinguished ruthlessly. All involved will be executed and their Families sent to the Nemesis Abyss Realm as slaves and breeders.

The best time to announce this change in regime, was tomorrow when the army was fully assembled and their ceremonial send-off was scheduled. With the army's aura on display and the people already firmly supporting 'Lord Voldemort', it should be a simple matter.

Each major Family would be permitted to establish a city and govern it under the Empire's jurisdiction. Of course, each city would have a standing Maid Guard that would police the city and make sure of the City Lord's loyalty to the Empire and the God-Emperor. If they did not want to govern a city, then as long as the pledged allegiance, they could continue living in Glory City. Any that refused to bend the knee would be killed as traitors.

Thankfully Ye Mo could see which way the wind was blowing, with the added fact that Lord Voldemort's 'student' was practically married to his granddaughter, he pledged his support. Ye Rou was happy that Shen Yue and her daughter were together and incredibly pleased with her grandson. Ye Ziyun had been forced to stay with them so she could dote on him.

The next day, nearly the entire city was present for the send-off ceremony. The sight of so many top tier experts exuding their aura was both a comfort and a threat to the assembled populace. Clothed in the new City Lord's uniform, the soldiers were an impressive display of power and unity.

This brought comfort to the people because they knew these soldiers defended them against outside threats, but also a reminder of what they would be facing if they did not follow the law. Su Qiang walked onto the stage erected to the side of the two bodies of people and addressed the crowd.

"People of Glory City! You are gathered here today to see off our troops to annihilate our long hated foe, the Dark Guild and her allies! Since I took the seat of City Lord, there has been many controversial rumours and conflicts. Today I will use this opportunity to explain the underlying reason and the steps taken to fix any further threats.

Since the start of the Holy Orchid Institute's first day, there have been two main protagonists supplying our great city with controversy. Ye Ziyun and Nie Li have been the focus of all problems since that day and ended up with me taking over the position of City Lord to lead and protect against any threats to our great city.

I'm sorry to say that Ye Ziyun and Nie Li had their bodies stolen by beings, not of this world. This was arranged by a Deity so powerful that He could accomplish this remotely. We were given strict rules to follow that ended up causing the ruin of two prominent Families.

Luckily, Ye Ziyun's soul was saved by some quick actions of my student, Shen Yue. She has since recovered her physical form and rejoined her Family. Unfortunately, Nie Li's soul perished that day, and together with the imposter in Ye Ziyun's body wreaked havoc in our city.

Long story short, they have been captured to be exiled. This has forced me to seek protection from a being even stronger than this Deity, the God-Emperor. Under his protection, Zhu Long, the Spiritual God of the Demon Beasts, and myself, the representative of the Humans, have joined forces to create an empire under the God Emperor's rule.

Although we have to ally ourselves with the hated Demon Beasts, we can at least take comfort that our new God was once human before he ascended to become a mighty entity! With the Demon Beasts mostly subdued, we have started to colonise lost territory, building four new cities.

The prominent Noble Families of Glory City will be able to found new settlements under the God-Emperor and once again bring glory to the human race! With our soldiers to fend off any outside threats, we can now regain our past level of strength and make the Tiny World a place others will not dare to trespass!"

As Su Qiang finished his speech, the entire army smashed their right fists against their chests in salute and screamed out 'All Hail The God-Emperor!' Their aura increasing by multiple times as they purposely emitted it to engulf the crowd. This had been a deliberate show of power to any that thought to oppose joining the Empire.

Shen Yue knew that allying with the Demon Beasts would be a hard sell, but under the dominating pressure from the army, there would be few dissenters.

Zhu Long stepped on stage and released his aura until the people in the crowd were nearly forced to kneel, he then pledged his allegiance to the Empire and the God-Emperor. After this power play, the Nobles were also 'asked' to go up on stage and pledge allegiance.

No one was willing to be the first to refuse, and soon everyone was screaming out 'All Hail The God-Emperor!' Of course Shen Yue was not silly enough to blindly trust these forced pledges, but the Maid Guard would weed out any traitors. After a few examples were made, he was sure that humanity would be united under his rule!


	45. Chapter 45

Shen Yue was pleased with the smooth assimilation of Glory City into his Empire. As he watched the army march off with the boisterous support of the populous, he allowed a smile to grace his face. Everything was on track, his plans so far had not met any problems worth mentioning.

Though that could change with the upcoming battle for the Nether Realm. Even though Zhu Long alone could dominate the Nether Lord and his allied Spiritual Gods, they had survived for thousands of years and had to have a few tricks up their sleeves. He would have to make sure his minions did not rush into any traps.

When Su Qiang had finished making sure the city would continue running without his presence, they moved over to where Blaze had been perched beside the stage. She had been introduced as a gift from Zhu Long to foster good relations between the two races. Blaze had already been told not to expose the fact that she could speak or that she was his.

When she noticed Shen Yue walking over to her, she started to chirp cheerfully. She could finally fly freely in the world with her Master and was looking forward to battling at his side. Since they were not needed until the army reached the entrance to the underground realm, he gave her permission to let spread her wings and explore.

Hours later, when Shen Yue received a message that the army had arrived, he told Blaze to fly to their original destination. Letting out a trill of happiness, she flew at her fastest speed until the army came into view. Su Qiang could not help but chuckle at Shen Yue's exasperated look as he tried to smooth his clothes back into place and re-tie his hair.

Shen Yue had barely managed to hold his place on her back, let alone keep a regal appearance at Blaze's top speed. He never thought that a peak legend realm was still not strong enough to battle the wind as they sped through the skies. Looking at Su Qiang surrounded by his soul force and looking as if they had just taken a short stroll, and not a terrifying flight, pissed him off.

Shen Yue was starting to regret his decision to cultivate all the Laws before he advanced to the Heavenly Fate Realm. He was unsure if it would affect his Fate Soul when it formed, plus he wanted to strengthen his soul as much as possible before advancing. Cultivation was all about having a sturdy foundation, to rush his advancement into the heavenly fate realm would only harm his future.

Besides, there was no benefit in reaching the next realm. With Blaze by his side, it was enough to protect him from anything this world could throw at him. You would have to be an idiot to surrender a strong foundation just to feel superior to everyone.

He had read many comments on fan fictions to this effect. Shen Yue could not understand why they would choose to ruin their future for a year of masturbating over how much more powerful they were than the people in the beginner village! He would not make that mistake, he wanted to dominate this universe, not limit his potential for a quick power boost.

When he had made himself presentable, he looked over the assembled army and the defences built around the cave that led to another realm. As soon as Nie Li and his troops had been defeated, Shen Yue had ordered extensive fortifications constructed on this side of the portal to the Nether Realm. There would be no way for another invasion to happen from this realm.

The mountain had been excavated so that the portal was exposed and turned into a death trap. A multitude of arrays had been laid around the gateway, any attackers would be vulnerable to the attackers behind the impenetrable barricades sealing any exit. There was even a flying/gravity array to stop anyone from jumping the barriers.

Pleased with his men's work, he made a mental note to have Su Qiang reward them. It was a surreal sight as Blaze flew down to the command section of the army. Only days ago they thought of demon beasts as their mortal enemy, now the leader of humanity was riding one to battle. That was why only Zhu Long was fighting in the upcoming battles, Shen Yue didn't want any problems to arise from thousands of years of racial hate.

Since they would be detected as soon as they enter the Nether Realm, the rest of the day was spent drilling the operation plan into the troops. The captives from Nie Li's men had now turned into guides for the army, mind control really was convenient.

The soldiers were assigned different roles in the invasion force, there would not be just a mob rushing into the city and killing everything in sight. No, they would be broken up into squads of fifty, and each has a role to play when they entered enemy territory.

From scouting and eliminating threats as the army marched, to securing a path for retreat and fortifying the portal from the Nether Realm side. Everything was planned for, the men were given clear instructions on how to proceed when they attacked.

There were officers to oversee the different squads and make sure everyone operated together smoothly, there would be no conflict between teams under threat of punishment. The legend rank experts were in charge of dealing with the masses while the heavenly fate experts would be responsible for dealing with any threats.

The majority of soldiers received instruction on how to operate when they breached the city's defences. There would be targets to eliminate and areas to isolate until infiltration squads could be organised. Some objectives were given priority, such as the Dark Guild headquarters, they would be suppressed with maximum effort.

Su Qiang, Zhu Long and Yu Yan would be spearheading the attack on the compound to make sure all of the hierarchy are captured. The Demon Lord was not allowed to escape! There would be a perimeter set up around the city to kill anyone fleeing if they did not heed the warnings for surrender. Hopefully, this would ensure all targets are captured, and the Dark Guild eliminated.

Shen Yue planned to have the hierarchy gathered after the city was subjugated. He planned to enslave them to keep the city from rioting when the threat of the army was not there to keep them in line. The last thing he needed was to have trouble behind him as he sieged the other cities. He was already outnumbered without having conquered cities adding to the mix.

With everything prepared, there was nothing left to do but sleep. The men would need all the sleep they could get because as soon as they initiate the invasion, there will be little time to rest. They would be attacking before first light to keep their eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Shen Yue made his way to the tent that Su Mei had set up in the command area. She was the only one of his wives that had been allowed to accompany him on this adventure into the Nether Realm. This was to keep his Family members strength secret from the Spiritual Gods in case they relayed it back to Nie Li when he was released into their care.

Su Mei had been by his side since he first left the Sacred Family so it would not raise any red flags if it got back to the two retards. She had been sent ahead on his behalf to oversee the defences and arrangement of the army when they arrived. As Lord Voldemort's student, he was expected to take a more authoritative role in this engagement. To Glory City, he was practically the City Lord's heir.

Flying in on Blaze only emphasised this position and would help explain away any awkward questions of why he was apart of the decision making. Hopefully, Nie Li and the slapper will think him a pawn of their real enemy and pay him little attention. The last thing he needed was unwanted attention in the Draconic Realm to disrupt his plans.

"Young Master, you have finally arrived! I have prepared a bath for you to relax in." Said Su Mei as he walked into his tent.

"I have only flown here with Blaze, there is really no need for a bath." He replied with a small smile at her behaviour.

"Please? I want to wash you, you haven't paid attention to me in so long!"

Thinking that it will be a few days until he could relax with his women, he gave in and started to undress. After all, tomorrow was going to be a long day, he might as well reward himself now for his hard work!


	46. Chapter 46

It was 3am when the army charged through the entry to the Nether Realm. Everything was planned down to the last detail so there would be no prior warning before Blackrock City was locked up tighter than a nun's chastity. The Demon Lord could not be allowed to escape.

The scouts trail-blazed for the army, taking out any hindrances to their march. With the converted Nether Realm residents leading the way, it only took an hour to reach the target. It helped that everyone could fly, bypassing the rough terrain. The army quickly executed their orders and broke off into their different teams once the city was surrounded.

Blackrock City didn't know what hit them. They lived in relative peace, the only danger was from the inhabitants themselves. Even the different Clans and Families would not attack whole cities, preferring to only target opposing factions territory within the city walls. A citywide siege was simply unheard of, and thus very hard to suddenly defend against.

Even though the Nether Realm was always in a perpetual dusk-like state, the time, strangely enough, seemed to be the same as Glory City. Most of Blackrock City's residents were still asleep as it was only 4am, only a few guards on night duty were awake to see the flood of people envelope the city walls.

Shen Yue watched from Blaze's back as the soldiers performed remarkably. He was worried that these new manoeuvres and tactics would take a while for the men to get used too, but there were very few mistakes. After this campaign, he would have to reward them well.

There was chanting of 'surrender or die' being yelled out by the invasion force, and since nearly everyone was asleep, this chant woke them. The message was clear, but there were always fools that thought themselves to be at the top of the food chain. These were brutally slaughtered, even when half of them tried to surrender after attacking.

Jade Seal Family Fort was one of the priority targets as it was one of the top dogs of the city. They were one of the few human Clans that had survived the harsh environment of the underworld and would hopefully be an asset to Shen Yue. As such, they were given a bit more leeway when their compound was assaulted.

The chant they had screamed at them was 'we are human, surrender or die with the traitors'. Since their compound was located in a more central area, they had already witnessed the unmerciful efficiency the defenders were slaughtered. Since the invaders also claimed to be human, the head of the Family gave orders for everyone to surrender. Still, ten or so 'tough guys' had to be brutally subjugated.

On the other side of the city was the Wugui Clan, a turtle humanoid confident in the physical strength of their bodies. They were not known for their brains and settled everything with force. Unfortunately, the Empire's men were given clear instructions. Kill any who resist. Eighty percent of the clan was wiped out in five minutes as transformed demon spiritualists tore them apart like paper.

Even though they had quite a few Demi-God experts, they were only fighters. Against demon spiritualists, they would always be at a severe disadvantage. The Wugui were not used to this treatment, everyone in the Nether Realm knew of their culture and would react accordingly.

They were a warrior race and only respected the strong. They would fight an opponent even if they were superior to the Wugui, as backing away from a challenge was considered cowardly. Unfortunately for them, once the proud Wugui Family members attacked the Empire's army to prove themselves, they were slaughtered to the last man. Only the women and children were left alive after a quick and ferocious battle.

All over the city, small battles were being fought as it was an instinctual reaction to attack an aggressor. Following along behind the front line were the troops responsible for handling those that surrendered. They were herded out of the city limits to be guarded until the city had been cleared. If there was even a hint of people trying to escape, they were killed and their bodies left there to warn others.

It was a brutal campaign by any standards, but Shen Yue found himself not caring very much. They were given the option to surrender, so his conscience was clear for the thousands dying that tested his men's conviction in following their word. Surrender or die.

The Dark Guild's compound was the main target, as such the heavy hitters made a B-line straight to their front door, bypassing everything else. There was no chanting from these troops, the only target to be kept alive was the Demon Lord, everyone else was marked for death.

From Shen Yue's vantage point high over the city, (for an underground world, there sure was a lot of space) he watched as members of the Dark Guild first attacked with vigour, then begged for mercy as they were literally torn apart. It seemed that the majority of this force were residents of Glory City and held a lot of resentment towards the Guild. For years they had been attacked by these cretins but had no target to retaliate.

Now with years of hostility built up, and the object of it right in front of them, they ripped into them with a vengeance. Shen Yue turned slightly green witnessing the savagery of his men. His sharp eyes not missing a single detail as limbs and entrails went flying through the air as the blood-crazed soldiers carved their way through their hated foe.

Eventually, the sub-leaders Long Sha and Gui Sha made an appearance to try and counter the crazed slaughter of their men. They were the law enforcement elders of the Dark Guild and second in strength only to the Demon Lord. This meant nothing to one Heavenly Fate soldier as he blinked in front of Long Sha and pulled his head and spine out of his body Predator style.

Gui Sha seeing this nearly shat his pants and tried to retreat to where his master was cultivating in seclusion. Unfortunately, two blood-covered men appeared before him, blocking his path.

"Please, I surrender!" He begged, but it made no difference.

Gui Sha suddenly had his arms seized from behind, and a fiend in front punched their hand into his stomach. His face morphed into one of pain, then panic as the soldier pulled his hand out grasping Gui Sha's intestines. They fell out like sausage links, and even in terrible pain, terror and disgust, his stomach tried to empty its contents.

Quick as a whip, the Empire soldier wrapped the intestines around Gui Sha's neck when he noticed he was about to be covered in vomit. With his esophagus suddenly blocked, Gui Sha's body violently convulsed as he was strangled to death while trying to vomit.

'Not a particularly pleasant way to die' thought Shen Yue as he watched this unfold. He used to love watching violent deaths in movies when he was back on Earth, but seeing it in real life turned his stomach. Even with all the people he had personally killed, he was still vulnerable to this gore-filled scene. Shen Yue still had a long walk on the road of a Wuxia protagonist ahead of him if this still disturbed him.

Maybe that was a good thing, Shen Yue wanted to be ruthless to his enemies, but he didn't want to be seen as a monster by his Empire. Still, this brutality would make for good propaganda of what his enemies to expect if they challenged him. He carefully remembered the men of this squad, he had plans to create a team of devils that would be feared as his avengers.

Preventing dissidents is better than having to destroy them as they raise their ugly heads. If his Empire knew what awaited traitors, they might not be so quick to rebel. Because that's what the Dark Guild was, traitors to humanity. They preyed on Glory City only for profit and then tried to wipe them out with a beast tide. Yes, this would definitely be good propaganda for his Empire. Fuck with our Empire, and face the fury of its Avengers!

All over the Blackrock City pockets of resistance were being destroyed, there were no more people brave enough to provoke the invaders. But the Demon Lord had yet to make an appearance, had he flown the coop? The Dark Guild headquarters still had to be thoroughly searched, so Shen Yue still held hope that he was trapped in their net.

From the novel, Shen Yue knew that the Demon Lord had been in seclusion to try and advance his cultivation, only appearing after Glory City had been attacked by the Wugui Family. He must be somewhere in these buildings, probably underground where he would not be disturbed. Suddenly, a dark figure shot into the sky trying to escape!

Since the troops had strict instructions to capture the Demon Lord, even in their blood-lust fueled frenzy, they would not kill anyone fitting the description they were given. His dark grey human appearance and his Eight-Armed Darkhell Fiend transformation had been drilled into this team selected to capture him.

Shen Yue expected a good fight since this was one of the main antagonists of Nie Li and had a healthy serving of plot armour. But he was sadly disappointed. The Demon Lord was quickly overwhelmed in both power and numbers. He was knocked out, stripped naked and bound ready for Shen Yue to deal with.

'Oh well,' Shen Yue thought to himself, 'At least this wild card was caught, now to see what he knows!'


	47. Chapter 47

"So, you're the dreaded Demon Lord that Glory City has feared for many years. Honestly, you don't look like much. So many years of using despicable means to get to a power level still weaker than Ye Mo, what a joke! Now don't worry, this won't hurt a bit!" Said Shen Yue to the frightened naked man on the ground.

The Demon Lord had been captured, stripped of everything, including his clothes and had his cultivation crippled. There was no sneaky escape planned for this disease of humanity, his organisation was butchered like the animals they were, and his cultivating days were over.

The quivery mess of a once proud and powerful man was knocked out, and Shen Yue proceeded to enslave him. He had no plans of using the Demon Lord in any of his schemes, other than keeping him quiet until they could take him back to Glory City and publically execute him. The public sentiment for his new Empire would be boosted, and their invasion into the Nether Realm vindicated.

The Demon Lord was one of the six reincarnated beings opposing the Sage-Emperor. Since the beginning of time and space, these six people coexisted in harmony as they comprehend the Heavenly Dao. They were the only ones capable of facing the Sage-Emperor in the past. Though even they could not destroy him, they were able to band together to weaken him. Since then, they have used their intents to continually reincarnate in the hopes of once again reforming their strength and facing him.

The Demon Lord had really lucked out being born in Glory City. When he was a young starving child, he was taken in by an old man that worked for the Red Jade Family. But unfortunately, when the boy was seventeen, the old man was ruthlessly whipped to death by the Family for failing an assigned task.

The boy disappeared for decades following the old man's death, when he returned, he was wearing a demon mask and called himself the Demon Lord. He single-handedly massacred the entire Red Jade Family, including several high-level black gold Demon Spiritualists. But was driven out of Glory City and founded the Dark Guild to carry out his vengeance.

A tragic childhood, but one a reincarnated being would have dealt with completely differently. This was confirmed when Shen Yue finished scanning through the Demon Lords thoughts. Apparently, the self-proclaimed Lord had yet to unlock his past memories. He had been blundering about with only local knowledge to fuel his retribution. If he had done a bit of soul searching, he would have gained access to powerful techniques that would have enabled him to dominate the Tiny World.

Shen Yue didn't care in the least that the Demon Lord had a shitty childhood, he had gone against him multiple times and could only serve him with his death. Shen Yue even planned to destroy his soul, lest he reincarnates and holds a grudge. He would not give him a chance to become a future problem.

After neutering the Demon Lord and his forces, Shen Yue' next objective was to take control of the people with enough authority to keep Blackrock City under control. As he moved to the building where the high-value prisoners were kept, he had a quick look at his library. It had expanded substantially and would require time to look for new and exciting inscriptions.

Reaching the building, he was greeted by the sight of Lord Voldemort welcoming the head of the Jade Seal Family into the Empire. Luo Xiao was nothing if not pragmatic, witnessing the power of the invading humans and being offered a City Lord position in sunlight, he leapt at the chance to swear allegiance. A squad of Maid Guards would ensure he didn't gain any thoughts of independence.

The rest of the leaders were quickly subdued and enslaved. Of course, this was done behind closed doors; they didn't want to give anyone excuses for rebellions. All in all, everything went smoothly. The city was subdued in under two hours and now belonged to the God-Emperor. Shen Yue had tried to think of a kick-arse name for his Empire but had come up blank. Since there was no opposition, he supposed 'The Empire' would do for now.

The army had quickly taken care of any injuries or problems and been ready to move. When the leaders of Blackrock City had been 'sworn in' to their new Empire, they marched to the next target. This had been repeated another eight times, before the Nether Lord and his posse of Spiritual Gods had arrived. It must have taken time for them to reach the Nether Realm from their home realms.

The Nether Lord, with six experts behind him, was flying at the head of an army a hundred thousand strong. It looked like he had gathered the experts from the remaining six cities while he was waiting for the Spiritual Gods to arrive. Unfortunately for them, this had long ago been noticed.

Shen Yue had become concerned with the lack of reaction from the Nether Realm after conquering its cities. The last three cities they subdued, had even given up without a fight. The gates were open, and the citizens were lined up outside awaiting their new overlords. But what the Nether Lord could never have known, was that Shen Yue read the minds of all he enslaved.

When Ming Fei, the Nether Lord, had found out that his Realm was under attack, he had immediately summoned his allies. Since Ming Fei could sense everything within his Realm, he quickly discovered that whoever surrendered was spared as long as they behaved. Since he was pressed for time, he could only alert three cities in time while he gathered the experts to fight off the invaders.

Ming Fei's plan had been discovered as soon as Shen Yue dug around inside the leaders of the first city to capitulate without a fight, he had been rather curious at their actions. With a united army imminent, they planned accordingly and had strategised while advancing. Since they didn't have to fight the next two cities, the men used this time to recover their soul force for the upcoming battle.

Because they were withing enemy territory, they could not set up many traps as they would be noticed straight away. The best they could do was pretend to set up a camp and covertly rig it with offensive arrays, this way, they could pretend to retreat and hopefully take out a good chunk of the enemy before counter-attacking.

Just as planned, the Nether army arrived seemingly catching them off guard. Since everyone was a cultivator, everyone formed up ready to meet the hundred thousand Demi-Gods and Legend ranked soldiers. Ming Fei was observing the eighty thousand experts form up ready to battle; he could only wonder where such a strong force suddenly had emerged from.

"Who are you to invade my domain? For what reason would you attack and slaughter the innocents under my protection?" Commanded Ming Fei dominantly, infusing his voice with power.

Unfortunately, it had little effect on the Empire's troops as the Heavenly Fate experts shielded the Legend ranks from any harm. Su Qiang was quick to step forward and retaliate.

"I am Lord Voldemort! City Lord of Glory City, and the Human representative of the God-Emperor. We have invaded this den of scum and villainy in the name of his Empire for the multiple crimes you have committed against us." Countered Su Qian, his voice layered with soul force and projected at the enemy army.

Within the ranks of the Nether army, all the Legend experts held their ears as blood leaked from their ruptured eardrums. They were unable to counter the soul force of a Heavenly Fate expert, only the Demi-Gods were able to protect themselves with their power of law.

Seeing his men take damage, Ming Fei was shocked! Where had this expert come from? And who was this God-Emperor? It was then that he noticed Zhu Long and Yu Yan standing behind the man that just achieved what he wanted to do with his voice. He couldn't help but pale at the implications of this alliance between humans and demon beasts.

"The Nether Realm has done nothing to your City, I have always remained neutral to the Divine Continent." He replied sanctimoniously.

"You, as the Master of the Nether Realm, have control over anyone entering and leaving your Realm? That is how you knew we had attacked, correct? No one escaped to alert you." Asked Su Qiang as if talking to a three-year-old.

"Yes, I felt your army enter the Nether and have been watching as you viciously massacred my people!" Yelled an incensed Nether Lord, he had never been shown such disrespect while in his own domain.

"Well then, you must have sanctioned the Dark Guild's regular raids on Glory City. Your latest plot to wipe out the last city of humanity with a beast horde was the final straw! There is no reason to deny it, we have already captured the 'Demon Lord' and annihilated the Dark Guild!

All I want to know, is if the rest of you Spiritual Gods were complicit in the plan to drive humanity to extinction?" Said a furious Su Qiang, his acting skills had really come a long way.


	48. Chapter 48

There was complete silence as everyone looked at the Spiritual Gods, to drive a race to the brink of destruction was about as evil as you could get. Especially when it was a sentient species that were once allies! The six Spiritual Gods were looking at Ming Fei, was the accusations true?

"I think there has been a misunderstanding! I have no bad will towards Glory City, I thought they were just trading between our realms!" Said Ming Fei awkwardly. Being doubted by his allies and friends was a disconcerting experience.

"Really, trading? If they were just trading, then why did Jade Seal Family that was predominantly human having no idea about Glory City. Even though they chaffed under the Nether Realms environment and hated its food, the Dark Guild didn't take advantage to trade with them?

Our inscription patterns are more advanced than yours, and they didn't take advantage of that? Bullsh*t! You knew they were continually raiding us, and you provided them sanctuary! If they didn't have your protection, we would have wiped them out decades ago!" Yelled Su Qiang, ensuring that everyone knew that their invasion was righteous.

Everyone turned their gaze back to the Nether Lord, if the Dark Guild really were trading with Glory City, they would have been one of the largest factions if what the invader said about their goods. It was becoming entirely possible that they had a legitimate reason for invading. But that didn't matter, even if they were in the wrong, they had to defend their home!

The Spiritual Gods were thinking along the same lines. Ming Fei had f*cked up, but they were still allies, they had to help him settle this conflict regardless of its reasons. Just because something was justified, didn't mean that it would be tolerated! After all, Ming Fei was the only one to accept human in the first place, the rest of them were quite content to watch them get wiped out by the demon beasts!

Besides, this war would cost them nothing except a bit of personal effort. When these humans had been crushed, they would be able to leverage many advantages from Ming Fei for their help in solving this matter. After all, they only had two Spiritual Gods while they had seven! The Fire God was only a God in name, she didn't even know of the higher realms!

Ling Yun, the representative of the Heavenly Note Sect in the Draconic Ruins Realm, glanced at her fellow Gods, seeing that they were of the same opinions, she stepped forward to try and settle the war. She hoped that it failed, then they would be justified in wiping out all the humans from Tiny World. Better to kill them all than to leave them to gather strength to try again.

"The Nether Lord has already said that he was unaware of the betrayal of this Dark Guild. Since you have already taken your revenge, why have you continued to kill innocents? How about we end this misunderstanding and you return to Glory City. We will discuss your recompense after we have restored order and treated the victims of your war." Ling Yun said proudly, she hoped that they would take the bait.

Su Qiang had already received directions from Shen Yue of what the aim of their Empire was. He wanted to control the entirety of Tiny World and its seventy-two Subsidiary Realms, making an Empire that was invulnerable from attacks from the outside universe but could invade through the portal connecting the Draconic Realm. Since these Spiritual Gods were enthusiastic about adding their Realms to the list of invasion, he could only cooperate.

"Shut up slut, the men are talking!" Said Su Qiang dismissively, knowing that insinuating her position was from her looks and use of her body, would drive her into a rage.

"It seems that all of you 'neutral' Spiritual Gods are complicit in the downfall of the human race. What was your goal? To rule the Tiny World for the Draconic world sects?" Continued Su Qiang, pleased with the looks of shock from the seven Spiritual Gods.

Even though he was just spouting out bullshit from Shen Yue, it was clear that it was having an impact. Before they could interject, he finished his tirade.

"Yes, we know about the war between your sects and the Demon God Sect, which is odd, as you left the humans to fight your war here, ending with the mutual destruction of both the demon beasts and the humans.

What a coincidence that only you knew about the Draconic realm, yet Yu Yan, one of the human Spiritual Gods fighting your war, had no idea about it! You garbage races certainly know how to play the long game!

When Zhu Long submitted to the rule of the God-Emperor, he confirmed our suspicions. Even though the war was before his time, he has full knowledge of the demon beasts legacy. You, the ambassadors to the Draconic Realms most prominent sects, watched on as the humans fought a war against the demon beasts instigated by the Demon God Sect.

You then again refused to give sanctuary to anyone of the human race during the demon beast riot years later. The exception was the Nether Lord, and he only took in enough to make one or two clans, not even a city worth. It seems that this has been a plot spanning tens of thousands of years so that the other races could rule the main world!

Unfortunately for you, the God-Emperor has united the demon beasts and humans to resist your tyranny. Though we can not beat you now, know that your races are doomed to grovel at our feet! Clean your necks Spiritual Gods, we will be back to finish the job! Retreat!" After lambasting the gathered neutral Gods, Su Qiang gave the order to fall back.

Everyone was stunned as they watched the orderly retreat of the invaders, the criticism of the Gods was unimaginable! They were objects of worship, not something to denounce by strangers! They conveniently forgot that the enemy had two Gods of their own as self-righteous fury started to burn in their bellies. As expected, the insult to their Gods could not go unpunished.

"Fools! Do you think my domain is something you can just come and go as you please? Since you have made it clear that we are unreconcilable, you must be crushed like the bugs you are! Attack!" Shouted the Nether Lord.

Ming Fei never wanted to attack this dangerous gathering of humans head-on. Just Zhu Long by himself was something to be wary of, let alone the unknown factors lurking within this army. It would only mean casualties for the talented people he hoped to send to the Draconic Realms. Much better to sneak attack them when they were in the Divine Continent and save future prospects for the real war.

While he was wary of the strength of the gathered humans, he was confident they would win. He had six other Spiritual Gods to suppress Zhu Long, and the Fire God had always been weak. If he had known that Zhu Long would grow to cause him such problems, he would have made more of an effort to kill him when he advanced to Godhood. If only he had not been so weak from the deaths he had suffered in the Draconic Ruins.

But he could not let the public insults go unpunished. If the thousands of people he had gathered reported back to their Clans that he was afraid of the invaders, they would lose all respect for him. It wouldn't take long for them to start probing his strength to see if they could take his position. Thus, he could only attack. Hopefully, their attack on the retreating army will minimise the losses.

When the Nether army heard the order to attack, they instantly jumped to obey! The insult to their God igniting their need to rip the invaders apart, they rushed forward to engage the enemy like a tsunami. Destruction incarnate as a wall of experts flew towards the human army, some having to run through the now empty camp as the sky was full.

The retreating army suddenly formed up at their camp's perimeter, preparing for the clash against the Nether army's wall of attackers. They quickly merged with their demon spirits as they were all Demon Spiritualist, unlike the Nether troops. Because of the lack of demon beasts, very few could follow the path of Demon Spiritualist with most becoming Fighters out of necessity.

As the Nether army was closing, the humans took out javelins from their spatial rings. When the enemy was within five hundred meters, they threw them with all the strength their cultivation allowed. The light spears struck the army with devastating effect, the speed and power behind the projectiles enough to break any defence a Legend or Demi-God expert could muster. The power difference between a Heavenly Fate Realm and a Legend expert was the same as a Black-gold rank fighting a Legend.

But even as thousands of warriors fell from the sky, it was not enough to stem the wave of attackers. There would be no second javelin as the attackers were upon them.


	49. Chapter 49

Thousands of screaming Nether Realm warriors surged towards the Empire's army in a murderous wave. Those that fell were quickly replaced by their eager brothers, everyone hell-bent on killing the invaders. Unfortunately, they were stopped by a wall of demon spiritualists that had merged with their demon spirits.

A Demi-God was only stronger than a Legend ranked expert, going against a Heavenly Fate demon spiritualist was asking for death. Their meagre grasp of the World's Laws was not enough to save them from the vast amounts of strength, soul force and demon spirit innate skills that the frontline unleashed upon them.

Shen Yue watched from Blaze's back, safely surrounded by troops as the two armies clashed together with a thunderous explosion of pandemonium. Screams of fury and agony filled the battlefield as the tsunami of Nether Realm fighters crashed against the immovable human defensive formation. As they continued to push against the steel wall of humans, he could only smile and shake his head.

This universe had very little in the way of tactics or army formations. Sure, some of the Clans in the Draconic Ruins had battle arrays that could combine the might of people working together, but they were rare or simply not used. It seems that personal strength had become the driving force behind their tactics, as two groups of enemies would simply charge at each other in a swarm of individuals.

Even though the human army had powerful soldiers equipped with better gear and in a defensive formation, casualties did occur. But before they could result in deaths, the reserve troops took their place, and the injured were shuffled to the back of the army. This was the first real battle that Shen Yue had witnessed, and it was intense.

The invasion so far had mainly been made up of small teams destroying pockets of resistance inside the city walls. A battle of this scale was something completely different. Just the noise of pain-filled screams and clashing of weapons shocked him to his core. Even though he had killed before, it did not prepare him for this, it was almost primal in the severity of slaughter.

But he could meditate on this later, the enemy had finally bunched up enough for the traps to be activated. If only the Spiritual Gods had moved forward, instead of watching from behind their army. Shen Yue could have injured some of them and reduced the threat of their unknown powers. But they were waiting for Yu Yan, Zhu Long and Su Qiang to make a move, they were content to watch the mortals fight each other. It was only Ming Fei that grieved as he watched his subjects die, the others could care less at his predicament.

But the Spiritual Gods expressions changed when Shen Yue initiated the arrays that saturated the abandoned camp. First to activate were the gravity arrays, dropping the warriors flying above on top of their companions. Next, was an assortment of different elemental killing arrays. It was a massacre, even the Gods were horrified at the sight of destruction that laid waste to their army.

There was a symphony of Wilhelm screams and cries of despair as the Nether Realm army was torn to pieces by the elemental eruption. Those that were lucky died instantly. Much better than those that suffered through their skin melting off from the hellish flames, or having half their bodies frozen only to be shattered by someone stumbling over them in their panic to escape certain death.

Those that had already engaged with the Empire's men were killed as the humans advanced. The Nether races were pushed back into the whirlwind of death that was raging behind them or cut down as they tried to surge forward. Shen Yue had made sure that Su Qiang drilled the plans into the men, making sure that they would not be surprised by the explosion of death and knew it was the signal to advance.

When the arrays were spent of power, the elemental energies died down, leaving the devastating after-effects visible to those not caught in it or fortunate enough to survive. The initial army a hundred thousand-strong with different races were reduced to twenty or so thousand demoralised troops. Shen Yue's men advanced into the wailing survivors showing no mercy, they had made it clear throughout their campaign that all that resist would die.

Even if he accepted their surrender, the majority were crippled or seriously injured. The effort to heal them and integrate them into his Empire was not worth it. Now it was time to capture the horrified Spiritual Gods to save himself future trouble. The problem was that it was impossible to contain them all if they decided to flee.

Zhu Long had already been stronger than the Nether Lord, who was the strongest God among them, but he could not capture them all. Both Yu Yan and Zhu Long had vastly updated their Power of Law thanks to Shen Yue, but it was two against seven. The army of Heavenly Fate experts would unquestionably tip the fight in their favour, but these Gods had existed for over a hundred thousand years and mastered Laws that would make them hard to capture.

Both Yu Yan and Zhu Long took one thousand fresh troops each and circled the devastated camp being cleared by their army. They took opposite sides, hoping to incircle the Gods and force them to stand and fight instead of fleeing from overwhelming odds. Other than the Nether Lord, it was not vital that they capture the other Gods. Although it would save future problems, they would be practically toothless if he controlled the Nether Realm and the portal to the Draconic Realms.

Ming Fei looked like he was ready to fight to the death as he gawked at the ruins of his elite forces. Their cries as they were put down like wounded animals cut him deeply. He only had one job as an Enforcer in the Outer Division of the Divine Feathers Sect, recruit promising members to the sect. With the conscripted army from the cities under his control destroyed, he had no talents to submit for this year's recruitment.

He suddenly sensed danger and looked up to find the two enemy Spiritual Gods charging at him from opposite sides.

"Come, my friends, if we can kill these Gods then we can turn this battle around!" Ming Fei shouted as he turned to look to his allies.

Only to find that the ambassadors of the Hidden Cloud, Skyblaze and the Thousand Flowers Sects had disappeared. 'Idiots!' he silently fumed, 'don't they know that if we don't stop them here, their worlds would soon suffer the same fate?' Ming Fei could only curse them in his mind as he turned to the three allies that stayed behind.

The ambassadors of the Phaseless, Sky Origin and the Heavenly Note Sects looked at him with grim determination. They realised that they had seriously underestimated these humans, it was unbelievable how strong their army was! It was as if they were Heavenly Fate experts with the ease that they destroyed the Demi-Gods, but they knew that was impossible as this Realm's highest rank was a Spiritual God.

"We must kill these gods here and now! With the head cut off the snake, the body with cease to function! We must not hold back any power!" Shouted Ling Yun, conveniently forgetting that she had desired this battle to happen.

With a determined look, the gods faced the two approaching groups and unleashed the full power of their Laws. Two gods each unleashing their fury on each group, a two versus one battle for Yu Yan and Zhu Long as they shielded themselves and the men behind them. Unfortunately for the Nether Lord and his allies, they easily held off the godly Law energy, giving the men being protected time to take out their javelins.

What followed next was a rain of steel projectiles of destruction. With all their effort employed on attacking Yu Yan and Zhu Long, they had little power to spare for protecting themselves. Most of the javelins were destroyed by the Law energy that spilled across the distance between them, but enough proceeded to strike the stationary gods.

After that, it was a complete smackdown. With the Spiritual God's focus divided between containing the overwhelming Law energy and the thousands of spears flying at them, they were quickly at a disadvantage. Especially when Tian Hun from the Sky Origin Sect escaped without a word, using the resistance from the other three gods to cover his escape.

Shen Yue watched as the three near immortals were taken down and restrained. Seals were plastered over their bodies while they were immobilised by both soul force and Law energy. With the rest of the army finished with executing any survivors, he gave an order to secure the area and lock it down.

As Shen Yue flew down to where the three captured people struggled against their spiritual and physical shackles, he couldn't help but smile. It was time to enslave some Gods.


	50. Chapter 50

The Nether Realm had fallen quickly after the battle. Not only was there no one to really oppose them, but Ming Fei was also at the head of the army to order the surrender of the remaining cities. The Nether Realm had joined the Empire and would worship the God-Emperor.

It had been reasonably easy for Shen Yue to enslave the three Spiritual Gods. With them restrained and multiple Heavenly Fate experts and two Spiritual Gods to help, their defences crumbled and their souls were branded. After he had finished pacifying the Nether Realm, there would be another two Subsidiary Realms to claim for the Empire. If only the other Spiritual Gods had stayed and fought.

The knowledge he gained from the three gods was not as helpful as he thought it would be. Other than locations to most of the other Subsidiary Realms, the only memories of value was their information on the Draconic Ruins. It gave him the necessary information about the various sects and prominent locations. He had gained a fair bit from Nie Lie, but it was spotty at best, the man had really bumbled his way through his first life.

The only issue left for him to deal with now was Xiao Yu. She was raised by her foster father Ming Fei, but her birth father was from millions of years in the past. After being defeated by the Sage Emperor, he sealed his and his wife's cultivation inside Xiao Yu's blood with a Void Spiritual Array. He then used a secret technique to send her to the future where Ming Fei adopted her, teaching her his crappy half-finished cultivation technique.

But the problem Shen Yue was worried about, was that when Nie Li came close to the Void Spiritual Array on Xiao Yu's chest, his consciousness was drawn into it by Xiao Yu's father. This meant that he could not just enslave her, incase her father had the power to wipe him from existence. Not to mention that her cultivation in her blood will awaken when she sleeps with a man, giving the Sage Emperor the ability to locate her.

So Shen Yue would have to play nice for a change and befriend her. That, or leave her behind when the portal to the Draconic Ruins reopened. It would save him all the bullsh*t Nie Lie went through with her admirers and jealous enemies. This also included his wives and maids that he wanted to take. Should he leave them behind, send them to the Heavenly Note Sect or just accept that they will bring trouble and take them with him.

It was a question he would think on later, for now, he had to concentrate on stabilising his Empire so that nothing would destroy it when he left. The biggest obstacle he faced was the low population of humans. Even with his breeding program in place, it would be years before he could populate more than a few cities. The obvious answer to this would be to invade the Dreamcloud Realm and seed the world with its inhabitants.

But it is a vast and fertile land, perfectly shielded from the demon beasts by the Primal Family and their copy of the Amethyst Bamboo. It was a complete unknown for Shen Yue, and the power level and troop size of the hidden Realm could possibly overrun his budding Empire.

Much easier to just seed the main world with the different races he conquers from the smaller Subsidiary Realms. After all, there was seventy-two of them, and the majority were without Spiritual God overlords. Shen Yue would have to plan carefully with his leaders that would stay behind to expand his Empire, it wouldn't take him that long to gather enough power to find a method to return through the World Barrier, but there was always the chance something unexpected could happen.

With Nie Li and the slapper from Earth still kept in a coma, there would be no fuss when he delivered them to the sect he chose for them. Luckily, he managed to capture the ambassador for the Phaseless Sect. With a written order and some of the ambassador's underlings to deliver them, it will be a done deal before they can object. The only set back was that Shen Yue would not be able to make them swear an oath to his enslaved minion, but he was pretty sure God wouldn't let him anyway.

The Black Infernal Tower had been turned into a place for Shen Yue to train his elites, Duan Jian also benefited greatly from his time there. Everything of worth had been stored away, and any demon beasts sealed within were harvested for their spirits and valuable body parts. On the sixth floor, they encountered the ghost of Kong Yan. Unlike in canon, there was no weak person for him to take over and he was enslaved, mind raped and destroyed.

Shen Yue had planned to sign a contract with the Celestial Qilin, but it was too rebellious to be trusted to work alongside him. Not that he blamed the beast as he had been trapped inside the tower by humans for years. Still, there was little mercy for it as Shen Yue harvested its demon spirit and stored its body inside his ring.

The next few months were spent tying up any loose ends before his departure and training in the different Laws. The two Realms belonging to captured Spiritual Gods didn't even need an army to conquer. He just had the gods bring the leaders of their Realm for a diplomatic meeting with his Empire, it was the quickest invasion in history.

With their own God subduing them while Shen Yue branded their souls, the process was finished in a day. When the leaders returned, they simply repeated the process, and two Subsidiary Realms joined the Empire without any fuss. The Empire's rules and laws were transferred over with a bit of dissatisfaction, but when your God, leaders and strongest warriors pushed for it, there was little they could do.

Immortal Elixir Guild and the Heavenly Crafting Guild built branches in the three new Realms, making them famous. For some reason, the knowledge of alchemy and inscriptions was lost over the years, they had little understanding of the processes of the professions. Shen Yue found this weird, with the Spiritual God's long lives, how could they let their domains lose such valuable education?

It turns out that the gods themselves had little interest in alchemy and inscription patterns, preferring to spend their time cultivating. They would go into isolation for many years at a time, dedicating all their energy into understanding their Laws. It was a ridiculous situation that Shen Yue was quite happy to take advantage off.

He had many branches of the two guilds set up and practically controlled everything about the two professions. It was such a monopoly that Shen Yue thought he should start wearing a top hat with a black suit, red bowtie and carry a walking stick! He wasn't sure if the Monopoly Man wore a monocle or not, but it would fit the image of his dominance over the two industries.

While Shen Yue was unable to cultivate the different Law energy in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, he was able to strengthen the power of his soul. It would take five minutes to advance to the Heavenly Fate Realm, but he wanted to ensure that he was not missing out on any advantages by promoting early. He was waiting until he reached the peak in all the Laws and his soul was so powerful he would make a regular fate soul look like a cheap imitation.

There would only be benefits in continuously improving his foundation. It would be devastating to fumble this opportunity now, only to regret later when the higher ranks were harder to obtain or lacking in strength. A year's effort now could possibly save him a hundred times that later.

There was a reason that the highest rank the sect elders achieved was only the Martial Ancestor, resources were rare, and their techniques and foundations were trash. The experts today were a far cry from the experts of old. Of course, the Sage-Emperor was partly to blame, he kept killing off everyone with potential.

Still, Shen Yue would not be rushing his cultivation. Unlike Nie Li, he did not create situations for himself that required quick power-ups and plot armour to handle. There was plenty of time to do things right, most people did not have plot armour to keep their foundations firm. If a person other than Nie Li used shortcuts that damaged their future cultivation, they would have to pay the price.

The Demon Spirit Devouring Technique allows a person to devour demon spirits to train their soul force at an accelerated rate. It is considered a sinister technique that defies the Heavenly Dao. Yet Nie Li used this secret technique that causes harm to one's future foundation with no consequences, his cultivation speed and strength was still better than anyone in the universe.

Even though Shen Yue cursed Nie Li's ability to defy this universe's rules with impunity, he had his own cheat powers that could rival this ability. With the Library of Heaven's Path, he could edit out the majority of the adverse effects of flawed techniques and gain most of the benefits. Still, it would be nice to have the universe revolve around him just because he picked up a random book and then died a worthless death to the Sage-Emperor because he tried to solo him and his deity ranked beasts.

Using his cheat powers received from his God Alastor, and stolen from the wench from Earth, allowed him to gain mastery over the Power of Laws of the Tiny World Domain. The thirty-six Laws of the Main World and each of the seventy-two Subsidiary Realm Laws were mastered without much effort. The main reason the locals took hundreds of years to accomplish this in just one Law, was because they misunderstood them.

According to the Spiritual God's memories, sensing the power of Law is a complicated process. It can take decades to empty yourself and let your heart become pure and clean like the Heavens and Earth, the Power of Law will then sense your sincere heart and accept you. It took Nie Li five minutes to discover that this was a load of shite.

The Power of Law is actually made of flowing inscription patterns, with each Law formed by their own mysterious inscriptions and work together to create the world's structure. With the help of his cheat library, it was easy to break down the inscription patterns and cultivate the extremely pure type of Soul Force that is used to refine a Law.

With his cultivation at the extreme peak of the Legend rank and mastery over the one hundred and eight Laws, he was ready to depart for the Draconic Ruins. Tonight was the send-off party for those that were going, it would be a wild night.


	51. Chapter 51

Shen Yue awoke in a tangled mess of arms and legs belonging to his wives. They had been adamant in making sure he would not forget them as he travelled to another Realm. He lay there quietly, fondly remembering last nights activities. His girls really outdid themselves. They had been devastated that he was leaving them behind when he left for the Draconic Ruins but had settled down once he told them his reason behind the decision. Besides, he would be back soon enough.

The Draconic Ruins Realm attracted the most powerful beings of the three thousand Subsidiary Realms/Domains connected to it, and the entire Tiny World and its Realms only count as one Domain. With the combination of two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine Domains worth of young masters and arrogant experts, it would be hard to shield them from harm. After all, his women were gorgeous and had strong foundations and skills, Shen Yue would receive envious looks from all men that laid eyes on them.

With experts that had gotten everything they wanted from those weaker than themselves, it would be only a matter of time before they neutralised Shen Yue and stole his women. Even with the Sect's laws prohibiting death inside its borders limiting direct action, there would still be plenty of methods to separate him from his ladies with Sect politics.

After all, Shen Yue would be a peasant from a backwater Realm with no background or backer to protect him from the elders that made the rules. All it would take would be for the Elder Council to decide his women were to be married off for the benefit for the Sect and that would be that. The strong make the rules, and Shen Yue was at the bottom of the ladder of the power structure in the Draconic Ruins.

The Heavenly Note Sect wouldn't be much better. Not only did the Sect's rules and regulations forbid marriage, but they would not hesitate to sell someone off if it protected their Sect. When they were assaulted by the Demon God's Sect, they were about to be wiped out if Nie Lie and his plot armour didn't intervene. If an alliance to another Sect to prevent this could be obtained by a political marriage, they would have jumped at the chance.

The other option Shen Yue thought of was for them to live in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. But this would be worse than leaving them behind in the Tiny World for a year or two. The time dilation was 1:100, meaning that if a day passed while they were inside the Realm, one hundred days would pass inside for his women.

It would be at the minimum, a couple of weeks before he could amass enough spirit stones to rent a private house in a city to stash them in. And there was no guarantee they would not be found. Not to mention that he was prohibited from leaving the Sect until he had created his second fate soul. With three days equaling nearly a year inside his private space, they would be spending more time away from him than if they stayed safe in the Tiny World, ruling his Empire.

Two hours later, he was looking at the five-year-old, dark-haired child holding Ye Ziyun's hand and waving goodbye. It caused him some heartache, but where he was going was no place for a child. Shen Yue had tried to spend as much time as he could with his son before the portal opened to the Draconic Ruins. Little Shen Taro had grown swiftly inside the Immortal Jade Realm, and Shen Yue played with him as much as possible between training.

As Shen Taro was his heir, he couldn't be stingy with a cultivation technique and gave him a modified version of his own method. Unfortunately, the little guy had not been born with a Neutral attribute, but a Snow Wind one like his mother, limiting the abilities he would be able to master. Still, the tyke had already reached the 3-star bronze level and was praised as a genius like his parents.

With a final wave at the assembled crowd to see them off, Shen Yue and three minions picked to follow him flew towards the Nether Realm. As they flew towards their destination, Shen Yue couldn't help but reflect on his relationships with his wives. He was honest enough with himself to admit that if he didn't brainwash them, then they would have torn him and each other to pieces long ago.

Could he have had sex with them without enslaving them? Undoubtedly, and in most cases, he did. Could he have had a loving relationship with only one of them? Of course! But he would have had to work at it, as he is at heart, selfish. Could he have a loving and caring harem like an isekai hero? No one, in any universe, could keep multiple girls happy as he had sex with other women in front of them without drugs, brainwashing or slavery.

If you think that a typical harem would work with just love and understanding, ask yourself, would you be happy sharing the women you love with multiple men? Shen Yue would willingly kill anyone that touched his ladies and was not afraid to admit that he was a hypocritical bastard. But so what? He had accepted Alastor's deal fully aware of the dangers because this was a perfect scenario to fulfil his desires that would never have been possible on Earth.

He loved the ladies in his harem, he had brainwashed them into the perfect women. Intelligent, beautiful, powerful and didn't nag the shite out him for every little thing they wanted him to change. Not one argument since they had been inducted into his harem. Some people would claim that it was not true love if they were only brainwashed slaves, but Shen Yue would argue that he loved them more because of it.

If so many people on Earth were in loving relationships, then why is the divorce rate so much higher now, than when women stayed at home and deferred to their husbands? Why did so many spouses cheat on the so-called love of their life, death do us part, soul mates? Shen Yue was not bothered about adjusting his wives into his ideal women and adding more girls to his harem, he would be an idiot not to.

Those that would cry foul at the injustice of it and how evil it was to enslave someone in mind and body, should remember that they were lucky to be born in their current era and countries. Even now on Earth, slavery still existed, and places like Africa was still rife with evil deeds that are never discussed. While the western world complained about children working, they had child soldiers! Earth had plenty of problems to fix, but the first world countries focused on inane issues like global warming.

How is taxing people combating the third world countries that are responsible for most of the pollution? How about fixing all the problems that are occurring now, like people being homeless and starving, slavery, rape and murder before jumping on your high horse about something that will not even affect humanity for a couple hundred years? And that's if it's even real!

Shen Yue's conscience was clear. Did he enslave people in a world where it was acceptable? Well, yes. Yes, he did! Before he took over, there were thousands of starving peasants while the nobles looked on and accepted it as something natural. People lived in fear from demon beasts eating them. Now everyone was safe and comfortable, happily living in new cities with actual crime prevention.

Shen Yue's slavery was nothing like a beaten-down peasant, whipped for failing a task. They didn't even know that they had their lives in his hands, too busy marvelling at their change in status and strength. To all the people that would judge him, Shen Yue could only say "F*ck you, you hypocritical bastards! Before you judge me, how about you do a better job in a world where only martial strength is respected."

As he finished his internal monologue of what he imagined his fellow Earthlings would say, he was slightly cheered up from having left his wives behind. Ranting at social justice warriors had always brought a smile to his face. The sheer ridiculousness of the things they got upset about made him wonder what would happen if they ever had to face a real, life or death problem.

The three minions he had chosen to accompany him to the Draconic Ruins, were all peak Legend experts. Once Shen Yue had decided not to take anyone that would attract attention to the Draconic Ruins, he had gathered fifty youths and branded them with officer marks. They would be able to brand their own minions and become leaders in his Empire. They were given high-grade cultivation techniques and fed only the best pills. It was a pity he could not take Duan Jian, but his wings would make him stick out like dog's balls.

Thanks to Heaven's Path Library, Shen Yue was able to see a person's Spiritual Root and determine how much talent they have cultivating Heavenly Energy. This was how the Skysoul Institute would be grading and sorting the students. Because he did not want to draw the attention or jealousy of a random young master, Shen Yue picked three people with low ranked Earth Spiritual Roots.

His own, much like Nie Li's, had been morphed into Heaven Defying Genius level by either his cultivation technique or the Temporal Destiny Seed of Creation. He suspected it was a bit of both because after checking his wives and the people he gave top techniques to, they all had superior Spiritual Roots. This was not too surprising as it was in some way related to the toughness of the soul. With their techniques nourishing the soul, it was kind of expected.

His thoughts were interrupted as they came upon the defensive outpost built around the Nether Realm entrance. The Nether Lord should be waiting on the other side to escort him to the portal. Nodding to the guards that surrounded the gate, he stepped through into the Realm that was forever at dusk.


	52. Chapter 52

Shen Yue followed along behind Xiao Yu as they made their way towards a massive forest surrounded by mountains. He had wanted to leave her behind in Tiny World because she would be nothing but a problem, but it would cause complications. Unfortunately, leaving a super genius 7th Grade Heaven Spiritual Root unable to cultivate for five years would be very suspicious, especially when she was the daughter of an outer elder.

Shen Yue could only sigh as he took in the sights while listening to her prattle on about the history of their new Sect. At least the girl masquerading as a man was informative.

"No one knows exactly for how long the Divine Feathers Sect has been around, but they control the entire Eastern region of the Draconic Ruins Realm. The Sect manages hundreds of cities with a total population of over several hundred million. By tallying the number of outer disciples alone, the count would already reach a few million.

The Divine Feathers Sect is then divided into the Heaven, Inner, and Outer Division. Ordinary people would only be able to stare at the Outer Division in longing, and would forever be out of their reach. The Inner Division was even more unknown. As for the Heaven Division, it is so hidden that it is practically a myth." Xiao Yu recited, like a tour guide lecturing sightseers.

The Skysoul Institute was located deep within a mountain range, further concealed by a sea of trees. The vague outlines of buildings could be seen throughout the flourishing forest with only a small path to guide the way through the natural maze. Right now was the recruitment period for the Skysoul Institution, which only happened once every ten years.

"The Skysoul Institute is a massive school with millions of students located in the Inner Division of the Divine Feathers Sect. Geniuses from all the scattered cities and smaller Realms from the Eastern region would be recruited into the Institute to improve their cultivation. Besides in competitions, fighting is strictly forbidden, and severe penalties are dispensed to any brave enough to violate the rules."

As Xiao Yu continued to reveal fun facts about their new school, Shen Yue zoned her out and thought about the different Sects he would have to deal with. Those that were righteous included the Divine Feathers, Heavenly Note, Phaseless, Thousand Flowers, Sky Origin, and the Skyblaze Sects. Those of the evil persuasion gathered under the Demon God, Pentabolt Demon, and Scarlet Moon Sects. The smaller factions would be of no concern, as they were generally subordinate to the primary Sects.

The righteous or wicked label was just a way to divide their allegiance, as they operated with the same lawlessness and ruthless actions once outside the walls of their Sects. They all were happy to engage in slavery or kill for resources, there was no mercy given, even to allies, as they walked the path of cultivation. Shen Yue would gladly take advantage of anything to gain the power to protect himself, but he would be operating from the shadows so as not to be targeted before he is ready to act.

He was not like Nie Li, able to rub shoulders with all the influential players and come out unscathed as he told them to kiss his arse! No, Shen Yue would be keeping as far from the spotlight as possible, perhaps using intermediaries to keep himself isolated from any fallout that may occur if one of his plans fail. Thanks to foreknowledge, he knew which people to be wary of and avoid using in his plans for world domination. This is a vast world that contains many powerful forces, and he intended to reign at the top!

After another hour of navigating the forest, they came to an open expanse populated with thousands of buildings. This was more like an independent kingdom than a school for cultivating. There were so many people that Shen Yue was actually glad he had Xiao Yu to guide them to the administration to be sorted. It would take them all day to find the right place with the thousands of people milling about waiting to register. Escorted by Xiao Yu, they entered a courtyard where some teachers were calling out names. The teachers were wearing long flowing robes and had an aura of prestige emanating from them.

Xiao Yu walked to one of the teachers and said, "This is the referral letter for these four students."

The teacher that Xiao Yu chose was roughly in his thirties and was wearing a silver robe. When he raised his head and saw Xiao Yu, a trace of astonishment flashed through his eyes.

"So it's Xiao Yu!"

Upon hearing this teacher, everyone turned in astonishment to look at the cross-dresser that Shen Yue was reluctantly standing behind. He could only lament, deeming this small bit of attention a necessary evil to fast track their sorting. Even though he didn't want to draw attention to himself, he also didn't want to wait in a line that was thousands of people long. The small bit of exposure was worth it to not be stuck in a place were many young masters with inflated egos lurked ready to prove how great they are.

The first teacher gave a quick once-over of Shen Yue and the three lackeys he brought, before turning his head towards another teacher.

"The referral letter has been received, bring them in."

Following behind Xiao Yu, Shen Yue was deciding how he was going to deal with the first retard of the Draconic Ruins. Hua Ling held the same position as Xiao Yu, a guide for new recruits of a small Realm under an Enforcer of the Outer Division of the Sect. As it was unavoidable, he would just have to keep quiet and let Xiao Yu take the verbal abuse. Hua Ling was only a minor annoyance that could be handled easily in the future, no need to put him on guard and complicate matters.

They passed through several corridors and arrived in the main hall where thousands of more students were gathered to test their Spiritual Roots. Xiao Yu turned to look at Shen Yue and his three minions.

"Before the talents from various cities and realms are allowed to join the Skysoul Institution, they must first undergo a test that determines the grade of their Spiritual Root. They are divided into Heaven, Earth and Man. They are then further divided into nine grades with the higher the grade of a person's Spiritual Root, the stronger their talent would be. This would make their Heavenly Energy cultivating speed much faster."

Shen Yue had already briefed his men on how to act once they reached the Skysoul Institute, so they all just stared at Xiao Yu before she blushed and turned away. They didn't ask any stupid questions and just quietly lined up behind her as they waited for events to transpire. Sure enough, not even five minutes later, a group of people walked over. The one leading them was an eighteen-year-old that had a trace of an evil aura emanating from him and wore a provocative little smile.

Hua Ling clicked his tongue and then proceeded to speak in a peculiar voice. "Well, if it isn't the super genius Xiao Yu from our West District! I had never thought I would meet Young Master Xiao in a place like this, what a coincidence!"

"Hua Ling, speak if you have anything worth saying. Otherwise, get lost! I don't have the time to have an idle chat with you." Replied Xiao Yu with a cold look on her delicate face.

Hua Ling laughed and tried to hook his arms around Xiao Yu's neck, but Xiao Yu knocked them away. Hua Ling retracted his arms as he chuckled, "Young Master Xiao is still the same as usual, so impolite!"

The scene played out exactly as it did in canon except for an idiot escalating the argument by responding to the childish teasing. It had nothing to do with Shen Yue, and he didn't feel the need to defend Tiny World's honour as it would one day soon rule this universe! As for the constant remarks about their talent? It could only help their image as weaklings to be ignored, even Xiao Yu looked at them in disappointment.

The cowardly comments from not rising to the bait, however, would be addressed later when they met outside the Sect! Shen Yue had never been good at letting grudges go, and this one would be repaid at a later date. It wasn't long before Hua Ling furrowed his brows, tired of waiting, and decided to use his status to jump the queue. With thousands of people waiting to be tested, it would be many hours before they were sorted to their divisions.

Hua Ling approached a blue-robed middle-aged man and lightly smiled as he greeted him. "Enforcer Gu, it's been a while."

"Young master Hua Ling, why have you come?"

"I brought some disciples from my Little Heaven Realm here to participate in the test, I hope Enforcer Gu will take care of us!" Hua Ling smiled, and with a twitch of his right hand, he materialised an object to give Enforcer Gu.

Luckily for Shen Yue, Xiao Yu was not one to ignore an injustice like this and threw herself into an argument that would end up letting them also jump ahead of thousands of people waiting patiently. He could only shake his head as he watched the righteous woman that dressed as a man act hypocritically and not even notice.

"Enforcer Gu, aren't you being inappropriate? We were before Hua Ling, and they end up before us in the line? Such bias, I'm afraid it won't be nice if rumours spread!"

It was uncanny watching a scene that he had read before play out, the awkwardness of Enforcer Gu, the backhanded compliments from Hua Ling, Shen Yue smiled as he watched it all play out. Hua Ling and Enforcer Gu came up with a painfully lame excuse for their favouritism and line cutting, while jealous potential students looked on with impotent rage. In the end, Xiao Yu talked herself into taking the position behind her hated foe.

"There's no need. It'll be our turn soon anyways, we will just wait behind Hua Ling." Xiao Yu knitted her brows slightly for a brief moment. If she were to queue in front of Hua Ling, then doesn't that mean that she's the same kind of person as Hua Ling?

Shen Yue thought it funny as he watched her justifying her actions, he could practically see her thoughts as they crossed her face. Skipping thousands of people to stand behind the evil line cutter was somehow justified and their testing now imminent.


	53. Chapter 53

After another group of people were sorted into a division based on their Spiritual Roots, Hua Ling's group from the Little Heaven Realm were next in line to be tested. Enforcer Gu walked over to where Xiao Yu and Hua Ling were still bickering.

"Young masters, it will soon be your men's turn."

"I will follow Enforcer Gu's arrangements. Xiao Yu and I are just bystanders, after all." Hua Ling was quick to agree as he smiled at Xiao Yu derisively, it was clear he was about to use the test to belittle Xiao Yu just like in canon.

Enforcer Gu approved, pointing his finger at a person wearing a purple robe. It was clear he was from the Little Heaven Realm.

"You come up here, it is your turn."

The youth walked forward, and under the supervision of Enforcer Gu, he slowly placed his hand on the round crystal ball the size of a millstone. When he injected his power into it, it glowed faintly, then became brighter and brighter. Faint orange patterns covered the crystal and divided into six threads.

"6th grade Earth Spiritual Root. Not bad, send to the West District." Said Enforcer Gu, nodding towards Hua Ling to show his approval.

One after another, the people from Little Heaven Realm were tested, and the results were all Earth Spiritual Roots causing Hua Ling to puff out his chest in pride. He glanced at Xiao Yu and couldn't help but boast about the men he had chosen.

"Don't worry Xiao Yu, I'm sure that the people you brought from the Tiny World are just as impressive as my men! Enforcer Gu, how about we test a few of their men?"

Picking up on the stereotypical young master's plan, Enforcer Gu pointed at one of the followers Shen Yue had brought with him.

"You! Come and take your test."

Guided by two teachers, one by one, the three minions were tested. They walked up to the crystal ball and placed their hands on it, injecting their soul force into it.

Lu Han - 3rd grade Earth Spiritual Root, West District.

Zhao Bei - 2nd grade Earth Spiritual Root, West District.

Sun Jin - 2nd grade Earth Spiritual Root, West District.

Just as Shen Yue was about to go up and be tested so they could leave, Enforcer Gu switched back to picking people from the Little Heaven Realm. Aware of Hua Ling's feud with Xiao Yu, he could not let them go before they were suitably humiliated. An Earth Spiritual Root was an acceptable result, but they had all been on the low side. Enforcer Gu was sure that among the remainder of the people from Little Heaven, there was bound to be a Heaven Spiritual Root that would shame Xiao Yu's group's average performance.

-9th grade Earth Spiritual Root, West District.

-6th grade Earth Spiritual Root, West District.

-3rd grade Earth Spiritual Root, West District.

-7th grade Earth Spiritual Root, West District.

-5th grade Earth Spiritual Root, West District.

-8th grade Man Spiritual Root, South District.

Another six tests were completed, with five of them Earth Spiritual Roots with one 8th grade Man Spiritual Root.

Hearing Enforcer Gu's words, Hua Ling's face instantly turned black. With a sneer adorning his face, he looked coldly at the youth as if he was dogsh*t.

"Garbage, to actually be a Man Spiritual Root! Scram back to the Little Heaven Realm. I don't need any Man Spiritual Root trash here!"

Even after Enforcer Gu tried to smooth things over, Hua Ling was adamant about rejecting the poor guy whose only crime was to fail his expectations. Instead of downplaying an undesirable result and quietly dismissing the man, Hua Ling acted like a retard and loudly condemned the man in front of everyone. With his outburst attracting the attention of the waiting would-be students, his next words were even more unreasonable.

"We don't need a Man Spiritual Root waste in my Little Heaven Realm, you should scram back home by yourself. Or do you want me to kick you back? I would be ashamed to show my face at the Skysoul Institute if I was you!"

The youth was so embarrassed that his ears turned red, while tears threatened to escape his eyes. He had come to the Draconic Ruins full of confidence, ready to become powerful, make his family proud and to represent the Little Heaven Realm. But now he was publically humiliated by the man he had sworn to serve, there was no way he could return to face his loved ones. He hung his head in shame and disappeared into the crowd of students.

Shen Yue gave a nod to Sun Jin. Knowing that Hua Ling would drive the person that had the 8th grade Man Spiritual Root to suicide, he planned ahead and sent a minion after him. Since Shen Yue would be in the West District, he needed someone to take control of the South District for him. After all, even though it was more efficient to enslave the prominent young masters that already commanded an army, they were continually under the scrutiny of the elders of their Clans.

Especially with the Acting Sect Master competition that would take place in the next couple of years. Any influential young master was being groomed to take up a leadership position in either their Clan or the Sect. If Shen Yue enslaved them, it would raise all kinds of red flags if they started to suddenly act submissively to some random nobody or their personalities drastically changed.

Much better to recruit an army of people that were thought of as trash and give them hope, techniques and resources. A soul mark to ensure loyalty, and Shen Yue would create a powerful faction that could not be traced back to him. This was the big boy league, he would need to take advantage of every opportunity to succeed in defeating anyone that would oppose him. Which would be everyone in this universe! After all, this was a place where might was right, and nobody wanted to bow their head to someone else.

Luckily, nobody noticed Sun Jin leave as there attention was focused solely on the bombastic Hua Ling. Since Shen Yue never heard the shocked cries of witnesses to a suicide, Sun Jin must have succeeded in gaining the embarrassed man's interest in revenge. One man's trash was another's treasure! Since mediocre Spiritual Roots was not an end-all condition to the Heaven's Path Library, there was a perfect chess piece that would now belong to Shen Yue.

After such a dramatic situation, everyone's eyes were on Shen Yue as he was next in line to be tested. He slowly placed his hand on the crystal ball, slightly apprehensive at being under the scrutiny of hundreds of people. Even though he knew he would pass, it was somewhat embarrassing to receive an average result and be mocked for it. But showing off in a situation like this would only create future problems, much better to grit his teeth and bear it for now.

The crystal ball glowed with a red colour that slowly started to change to orange. As soon as three threads appeared, Shen Yue removed his hand and pretended to sigh in disappointment. He did his best to convince Enforcer Gu that this was his limit and that he had tried his hardest. Thankfully, as someone aligned on Hua Ling's side, Enforcer Gu was more than happy to believe him.

Hua Ling casually glanced at Xiao Yu. "Your people from Tiny World don't seem to be very useful, only four low ranked Earth Spiritual Roots! I supposed it was inevitable with a failure like you as their leader, having a Heaven grade Spiritual Root but being unable to reach the Heavenly Fate Realm after all this time. Pathetic!"

Even though the people from the Little Heaven Realm didn't have anyone with a Heaven Grade talent, twenty new students with Earth Spiritual Roots were better than four! There were also a few high ranked Earth talents! Things did not go the same as they did in the story. Without Nie Li there to spout bullsh*t and show off Heaven defying talent, Xiao Yu suffered scathing insults that shamed her publically. The gathered crowd could only look on in pity as Xiao Yu bowed her head in defeat.

Of course, Shen Yue could have easily turned the situation around, but unlike Nie Li, he was not going to paint a massive target on his back just for the sake of winning a petty argument. The tallest trees were the first to fall in a storm. Those that stand out from the crowd quickly gained everyone's jealousy and envy. Without strong backing, they would be stamped down and blocked at every opportunity. Nobody wanted some new kid on the block to usurp their authority and upset the current power balance.

Shen Yue watched Xiao Yu slink off like a beaten dog and let her go, he made no effort to run after her and console her. Her adopted father had introduced him as a promising youth from the Divine Continent and the student of a new ally. They were not friends, and Shen Yue had already planned to distance himself from the trouble magnet as soon as he could, now was as good a time as any. Twenty minutes later, Sun Jin returned with a smile on his face. It seems like there was a new minion of the Empire in the Draconic Realm.

With the missing lackey rejoining the group, they headed off to the West District. There were two residential areas, the first area was provided by Skysoul Institution that was free for students. The other area was private property and required spiritual stones to rent. Since Shen Yue had none and didn't want to bunk with Xiao Yu, they headed in the direction of the free housing.


	54. Chapter 54

Three hours later, the men from Tiny World had settled into their new rooms. It's true what they say, you get what you pay for. Considering that the rooms were free, it was no surprise that they were nothing special. Hours of waiting in line to verify their admission and be allocated a place to stay was not even the worst part of the ordeal. That belonged to the tiny shoebox rooms with shared amenities, it was not going to work for Shen Yue.

Maybe it was meant as an incentive to work harder so that students could use the spiritual stones gained from becoming stronger to rent a private courtyard. It was unquestionably motivating him! But for now, it would suit his needs, blending in among the majority and giving him time to grow accustomed to the Skysoul Institute. Since there was no need to unpack with interspatial rings, after looking at the rooms, they met downstairs of the complex of free student housing.

Just in the West District alone, there were artifact shops, tea houses and market places to trade everything and anything to do with cultivators and supplying them with food and luxuries. Each district was practically its own city built purely for the students. The only problem was that everything cost spiritual stones and Shen Yue had none. Students at the Skysoul Institute of the Divine Feathers Sect received a monthly allowance based on the grade of their Spiritual Roots, but since Shen Yue had chosen to hide his talent and abilities, he received just one spiritual stone a month.

Because Shen Yue didn't plan to sell of demon spirits, he would need another source of income. To him, it seemed stupid for Nie Li to arm everyone with better weapons to kill him with, and he only received a paltry sum of a couple of spiritual stones for his efforts. He had never understood that part in the novel, why wouldn't he have left them behind in Tiny World to arm his Family and friends to fight against Demon Beasts? No, Shen Yue planned to scout out a few job opportunities at the Cultivation Hall.

The Cultivation Hall is the place where missions are assigned. After the students completed their assignment, they would return there to receive either spiritual stones, artifacts or other rewards. This was where Nie Li found out about Gu Bei's sick sister and the thousand spiritual stones reward for curing her. As Shen Yue and his men walked into the Hall for the first time, he was amazed that there were not very many people there. For a building shared by all the Districts, he had expected it to be teaming with poor students looking for work. All the walls in the Hall were covered in reports listing various missions and rewards with only a couple hundred people looking for a job.

There were thousands of different missions pasted all over the walls, how Nie Li found Gu Bei's task could only be thanks to plot armour. One thing that baffled Shen Yue was the inefficient way that missions were posted and chosen. Surely having some low ranked wage slaves assigning jobs like a stereotypical adventure guild would have been more productive? This would be changed when he took over, it was so wasteful, that half the missions would become redundant before anyone found them to even think of accepting it!

As Shen Yue circled the Hall looking at missions, he came to realise that they could be grouped into four different categories.

Hunting for specific Demon Spirits.

Forging artifacts.

Collecting materials

Healing unusual injuries.

They didn't have the strength or skills needed to succeed in the first three groups, so that left the fourth group of jobs, healing injuries and illnesses that had stumped the doctors of the Draconic Ruins Realm. Realistically, people only posted these missions in the off chance that someone could perform a miracle. There were only two reasons why people listed healing jobs in the Cultivation Hall. Either they were unable to find a cure because it was so rare that no one knew how to treat it, or they were too poor to pay the doctor's prices and hoped someone would be able to cure it at a lower price.

Gu Lan's case was a mixture of both reasons. Her Clan had practically abandoned her in favour of Gu Heng, and Gu Bei only had a thousand spirit stones to pay for the treatment. If the wealthy Gu Clan still supported Gu Lan, then they would have used their enormous influence to help cure her. The fact that only her brother was still searching for a cure hinted at the Clan's enthusiasm to help the siblings. The Clan wouldn't even allocate some of their vast resources to incentivise doctors.

Shen Yue had debated curing Gu Lan and risking being exposed since he had entered this Realm. On the one hand, Gu Bei would be the perfect frontman for the West District, but on the other, he was a bit too high profile. But Gu Lan was supposed to be very beautiful. Shen Yue sighed, he cursed himself for being a weak-willed man. The chance to capture a beauty tipped the balance between concern for his safety and gaining a new follower that could be set up as the next Sect Leader.

But for Shen Yue's plan to work, he would first need to break through to the Heavenly Fate Realm and gather some minions to be used as intermediaries. There were so many things that could go wrong, so he needed to start eliminating the potential risks of exposure in his plan. The first, was Gu Bei being seen together with anyone connected to Shen Yue in public. To achieve this, he would need to recruit some fresh talent that had recently joined the Skysoul Institute. Off the top of his head, he knew of twenty new recruits from the Little Heaven Realm! Maybe his revenge for being mocked may come sooner than he thought!

With the bare bones of a plan starting to form, Shen Yue finished his sightseeing tour and gave orders to his men to scout out Hua Ling's men. He doubted that Hua Ling was the kind of guy to share his private courtyard with his lackeys. Sun Jin was also to ask Aiguo, the suicidal new minion, what Hua Ling's plans were. While his men were off gathering information, Shen Yue retreated back to his room and entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, it was time to become a real cultivator.

Shen Yue had been putting off creating a Fate Soul for a long time. Since he had read Tales of Demons and Gods cover to cover many times, he knew that those that can create stronger Spiritual Flames before breaking into the Heavenly Fate Realm, can create a stronger Fate Soul. He had long ago perfected it and just needed to take the last step to reach the Heavenly Fate Realm.

Originally, Shen Yue had intended to go to the rookie lessons that were available to all new students but had decided not to. He had thought to use the lessons to break through, yet he was unsure if something might give him away to the teacher when he finally accomplished it. To be caught out for hiding his strength would attract a lot of serious attention, more than if he had just tested as a genius to start with. After all, it is not the righteous idiots in the light that people fear, it is the cunning and talented people hiding in the shadows. To be publically outed would forever put him in the spotlight.

Also, Nie Li attended the class for a week, and that was the genius Heaven Root class. He was pretty sure that the hundreds of lessons teaching the bulk of the student body couldn't care less if he attended. They only trained the basics of cultivation and combat, and Shen Yue was confident he could pick up any useful tips when he started enslaving people. Much better to just privately train and act surprised if anyone mentioned training courses, it wasn't his fault that Enforcer Gu wasn't thorough in his induction after testing his talent!

Shen Yue calmly sat next to the ten-thousand-year-old Chinese Parasol Tree while Blaze chirped happily above him. Gazing out over the calm waters of the pool of water in his private training area, he read over the chapter when Nie Li broke through to the Heavenly Fate Realm.

According to the novel, he was about to experience literal soul splitting pain, and he was unsure if he could control it. The worst pain that Shen Yue ever had to deal with was a broken leg on Earth, but he was drunk as a Lord at the time. This was definitely going to suck.

He would just have to grit his teeth and soldier on through the pain. He would not let himself fail at such a crucial step to achieving his dream of world domination! No one would respect a Legend ranked Emperor, he would become a laughing stock!

Breathing in and out deeply as he cleared his mind, Shen Yue prepared to take his first step on the path of cultivation. Taking out four spiritual stones, three of which his loyal men 'donated', he began to cultivate.


	55. Chapter 55

Chanting profound truths of the universe while all his meridians were employed to absorb the Heavenly Energy from the spiritual stones, Shen Yue's complete focus was on utilising his godly cultivating technique. The spiritual stones were quickly drained of any energy and soon became dull and worthless for cultivation. The amount of Heavenly Energy contained within a spiritual stone was comparable to cultivating for approximately half a month.

With the equivalent of two months of Heavenly Energy sucked into his soul realm, it was enough to initiate the process of forming a Fate Soul. Rays of divine light revolved around him, continuously evolving as they flowed in a swirling mass of multi-coloured splendour. Shen Yue had gained astonishing enlightenment into the mysteries of the universe. Compared to his previous life, there was now a drastic difference in his outlook on life thanks to the profound truths of his cultivation technique that the Heaven's Path Library had created for him.

His body began to float from the ground as the light show around him intensified. His soul was opened to truths about the universe that was simple, but also so profound that he would never have realised them without his cultivation technique opening his mind to them. Then agony replaced his chanting with soul splitting screams of torture. His soul realm began tearing as surges of pain washed over him, an ordinary person like him was unable to endure it. Any thoughts of keeping a clear mind to make sure the process didn't fail were instantly forgotten as he cried in agony.

The pain was indescribable, he would have passed out immediately if not for his cultivating technique forcefully keeping him conscious and operating the forming of his Fate Soul. How Nie Li shrugged this pain off and continued to cultivate was impressive, considering how immature he always acted. How his mental discipline was able to shrug of soul tearing pain, but not childish insults, was an enigma that could only be explained by retardation.

Like an enormous vacuum, his technique had somehow kept operating on its own, draining the limited amounts of Heavenly Energy in the Immortal Jade Realm into helping the formulation process. Shen Yue's mind was on autopilot, his body forcefully being guided in using Heavenly Energy to refine his Fate Soul and commanding all the opposing Laws and Energy to help create it. Shen Yue's skin had turned pale, the only colour visible was a sickly ashen sheen as he continued to scream with sweat and tears trickling down his face.

Heavenly Energy continually spiralled into tens of millions of threads that constantly reinforced his Fate Soul. Suddenly, with a final pulse of light, a multi-coloured Fate Soul formed. Most people would collapse in exhaustion after completing their first Fate Soul since the experience was excruciatingly painful as if their brains were about to tear apart. How could they still have the ability to think afterwards? Therefore, their cultivation would remain at the bottom of 1-fate. Most people had no idea that right now was the most critical time!

Nie Li had frantically controlled his Fate Soul to absorb more Heavenly Energy and continued to strengthen it until it grew to three times its original size! Unfortunately, Shen Yue was but a mere mortal, and if not for his god-like cultivation technique controlling the creation of his first Fate Soul, he would have passed out and failed. Therefore, unlike Nie Li, he lay there gasping for air as he tried to regain enough mental capacity to make sense of the situation. Even if he could continue to cultivate, he had no more spiritual stones and the Heavenly Energy inside the Immortal Jade Realm was now too scarce to be of use.

Thirty minutes later, Shen Yue still felt like his entire body was about to cave in. However, the multi-coloured Fate Soul that burned in his soul realm put a massive smile on his face. Colour aside, his first Fate Soul gave off a powerful aura that was not normal, especially for one that had just been formed. Even though it was newly developed and needed to be further fed with Heavenly Energy, it was like a blazing sun that lit up his Soul Realm with rainbow coloured lights.

His Soul Realm's Ying Yang symbol now dominated the sky, growing from the size of a basketball to a couple kilometres. It had also increased the speed it was rotating, releasing more energy to nourish his body and soul. His three slave seals, the dog collar, a jewelled crown and a white dove in a golden cage, were still floating in the sky to the side but had increased in size and become more tangible. The vine had grown and become sturdy, not quite a vine or a tree, but something of a mixture of both, it made Shen Yue think of Jack and the Beanstalk.

The twenty-nine elements had all been attached to the vine-like tree. It looked like a pyramid with the seven primary elements on the bottom as the foundation. Six elemental attributes had made up the second level and decreased by one each layer. The Fate Soul was orbiting the Ying Yang symbol as it spun like the moon did the Earth. Which was strange, since it was supposed to be the centre of his Soul Realm, not the Ying Yang symbol. Either way, he could find nothing wrong since it released an aura of dominance and did not look like it was about to dissipate, even though he had not strengthened it after it had formed as he had intended.

Since Shen Yue had missed the opportunity to increase his cultivation to the pinnacle of the 1-fate Realm, he could only expend more effort and spiritual stones like most people. With the aura and different colour of his Fate Soul, he suspected that it would need many times more spiritual stones than an ordinary colourless one to improve. But knowing the future would grant him many money-making opportunities, especially if he managed to acquire the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting. To achieve this goal, Shen Yue would need over two hundred thousand spiritual stones to buy it when it would be actioned in seven months.

It took Shen Yue a full day before he felt well enough to start cultivating again. During his recovery, the Heavenly Energy had once again begun to accumulate to satisfactory levels. With his mental state mostly recovered, he began to refine his Fate Soul as best he could. Shen Yue had no idea how ordinary people managed to reach the Heavenly Fate Realm with the intense pain that came from mutilating one's soul to achieve it. Maybe his was just much worse since it contained multiple Laws and his technique was so overpowered. One thing was for sure, he was not looking forward to forming eight more!

Fifteen days later of training in the Immortal Jade Realm, Shen Yue had become accustomed to his new strength. His physical prowess and stamina had increased by leaps and bounds, and his physique would put Long Yuyin's Blood Dragon Lineage to shame. He now had the strength to start his forceful minion recruiting. Exiting the Realm back to his shoebox room in the Skysoul Institute, Shen Yue laid down on his bed for some well-earned sleep. Hopefully, when he awakened, his men would have the information needed to make a move.

Sure enough, the next morning brought minions eager to report their success. As Shen Yue had suspected, most of Hua Ling's men were housed in the free rooms provided by the school. Only two men stayed in his private courtyard to act as servants and guards. With a list of room numbers, the God-Emperor set out to expand his army! The plan was fairly straight forward, get one of them to open the door then quickly restrain them and enslave them. Once they had one, the rest would be easy to convince to open their doors.

The only problem came in the form of getting caught fighting on school grounds outside of a sanctioned competition. Shen Yue was not worried about his slave seal being found out, as they would have to examine a person's soul realm to find it. There was a minuscule chance of a master forcefully invading a nobody's privacy to that extent without a significant reason. This was why Shen Yue wanted to stay away from influential young masters and focus on the general population that was only thought of as fodder for their factions.

Hopefully, this would be the most exposed Shen Yue would ever be, since getting caught enslaving someone would earn him a death penalty. He was banking on the free housing not being policed by masters taking an interest in the averagely talented recruits. If he was not directly witnessed attacking a student, then Shen Yue was sure he could quickly overwhelm a Demi-God with his Emperor's aura alone. As long as a ruckus was not created in taking them down, it would be easy.


	56. Chapter 56

Shen Yue waited outside the door after knocking firmly on it. Two of his men were at each end of the corridor to run interference if anyone walked by. The door abruptly opened, revealing the angry face of one of the Little Heaven Realm flunkies. The youth clearly did not appreciate being disturbed while cultivating and was about to voice his disapproval until Shen Yue enveloped him in his Heavenly Fate aura.

The stunned youth fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, his eyes had rolled back into his head, and he didn't even make a noise as Shen Yue stepped over him and dragged him back into the room. There really was a massive difference in strength between the Legend/Demi-god rank and the Heavenly Fate Realm, the ease at which a proud expert had been defeated with aura alone was mindboggling!

In the novel, when Nie Li first stayed in Xiao Yu's courtyard, he was accosted by a young master Yan Hao. This Yan Hao was already a Heavenly Fate Realm expert and caused Nie Li and Lu Piao to instantly feel a suffocating pressure when he used his aura to suppress them. However, Yan Hao had restrained his aura as even he didn't dare act too rashly inside Skysoul Institute. If he killed someone inside the Skysoul Institute, even his family wouldn't be able to protect him.

This happened again later in the Ghastly Ruins, and if not for Murong Yu toying with Nie Li, he could have killed him with little effort. These two instances highlighted the difference between the two realms and were why the Heavenly Fate Realm was considered the first real step on the path of cultivation. Nie Li was an overpowered plot armoured cheater, and he was still suppressed with aura alone, an average joe like the youth unconscious at Shen Yue's feet never stood a chance.

Soon, another minion was ready to fight for the Horde! Although Shen Yue had to help steady the guy's soul realm, he had been a bit too heavy-handed when he unleashed the Emperor's aura on an unguarded victim. After this victory, there was no further need to act out in the open and risk exposure. With the new addition to his growing faction, Shen Yue had the perfect excuse to be allowed behind closed doors before he attacked.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

An annoyed youth opened the door to be greeted by his fellow cultivator from the Little Heaven Realm and one of the trash from the Tiny World.

"What do you want? You interrupted my cultivation! Why are you with that trash?" The annoyed youth bombarded the offender of his peaceful meditation. The rooms were soundproof, but there was a minor array on the door to alert the occupant of guests.

"This guy realised the strength of young master Hua Ling and wanted to serve him. I wanted you to help interview him just in case it's a trap."

The annoyed youth's disposition slightly improved as he looked at the enemy wanting to be converted. If they could turn this trash from the Tiny World, then their young master would reward them well. He stepped back into his room and gestured for the two people on his doorstep to enter. Motioning for Shen Yue to sit on the bed, both he and his fellow cultivator from the Little Heaven Realm stood opposite Shen Yue and began to interrogate him.

"So, you realised the value of the young master and want to be on the winning team?"

"Yes, your young master is indeed valuable to me, and I always plan to win!" Said Shen Yue as his aura lashed out at the youth with more control than the first time, he didn't want to have to spend another hour stabilising another soul realm.

The youth had only begun to realise something was wrong from Shen Yue's words before he slipped into unconsciousness. When he awoke ten minutes later, he was ready to serve the Empire with his heart and soul!

Three hours later, Shen Yue was on his way to Hua Ling's courtyard with all of his new minions. Aiguo, the suicidal recruit with a Man Spiritual Root, had explained Hua Ling's future designs in detail and everything he knew about the Little Heaven Realm. It seems that there was not so much of a plan, than a general obsession with Xiao Yue because his father is competing against Nether Lord for the position of Chief Enforcer of the Outer Division. There was also probably a bit of jealousy involved as well, but it would be the perfect reason to enter his courtyard.

Just like before at the free housing, under the pretence of betraying the Tiny World for cultivating resources, they were shown in to meet with Hua Ling. This time would be a little tricky as Hua Ling was already reached 3-fate Heavenly Fate Realm and would be able to fight off Shen Yue's aura. Luckily, except for two men, the rest of Hua Ling's men belonged to Shen Yue. As was the courteous thing to do, one of them offered to make tea, and with Hua Ling's approval did just that.

"So, that pretty boy Xiao Yu is not reliable enough to gain your loyalty! I'm glad there are smart people in the Tiny World that can recognise a master worth serving!" Said Hua Ling in a self-aggrandising manner.

"Yes, young master! The man just wastes resources, and has yet to reach the Heavenly Fate Realm, so shameful!" Replied Lu Han, one of the three that came to the Draconic Realm with Shen Yue.

The next twenty minutes were spent drinking tea and stroking Hua Ling's ego by insulting Xiao Yu, the minions were really getting into it as Shen Yue had not revealed that Xiao Yu was, in fact, a girl pretending to be a man.

"And the way he walks! Swaying his arse like a cheap prostitute attracting customers! I feel sick every time he looks at me!" Sun Jin said emphatically, he had never like Xiao Yu and hid behind Shen Yu every time he was in danger of interacting with her.

Shen Yue wanted to laugh himself to death, the insults had started to become so brutal! He was the only one in the room that knew Xiao Yu's real gender and was doing his best to not break into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Thankfully, it was time for business. Hua Ling's eyes were starting to droop, and not even his favourite past time of insulting his hated enemy could keep his eyes open. Seeing their young master pass out, the two only unenslaved followers in the room rushed to his side to check on him.

Unfortunately, the powerful sleeping drug had already done its job and would need either the antidote or the soul force from a Heavenly Axis master. With their backs to Shen Yue, they did not even know what hit them as they slumped to the floor. With the last piece under his control, Shen Yue could finally start making some money. His choice of using Hua Ling as his healing expert was threefold.

The first was the opportunity of weak subordinates to overpower, making the takedown of Hua Ling that much easier. The second was gaining fame for his father to become the new Chief Enforcer of the Outer Division to draw attention away from the Tiny World, the less focus on Shen Yue's homeland, the better. And the third was that as Hua Ling was an outspoken enemy of Tiny World, they would be the last people to be suspected of being allies if the shit ever hit the fan!

With Hua Ling, the insignificant, petty young master that was ignored by everyone as his frontman, Shen Yue could disguise himself as a servant and relay the information from the Heaven's Path Library to him through the slave mark. If ever questioned about his relationship to Hua Ling, he could claim to be a craven money seeker that betrayed his loyalties for resources. It would be a bit demeaning to be viewed as scum, but Shen Yue wanted anonymity not fame and attention. Pride would only lead to an early death. Besides, no one ever noticed the lowly servants that brought tea.

With a new base of operations that could be shielded from prying eyes, Shen Yue now had a place to set up his clinic to make money. With his ability to hide his cultivation, only a Martial Ancestor Realm expert would be able to see through him. The first thing to do was to make this place unable to be scried upon by the many techniques that influential factions used to surveil areas of interest. It was best to have a site that they could act without their secrets being discovered, at the very least, it would give them warning if a true master had turned his attention to their operation. It would also reassure their clients that their secrets or embarrassing afflictions would not be leaked to the public.

Since Hua Ling had formed his third Fate Soul, he was more prosperous than Xiao Yu and had two hundred and thirty-five spirit stones in his possession instead of a pathetic amount of ten or so. They would need at least ten to power they array and use their own energy to strengthen it if it was under attack. It was not the best method, and would never stand up to a full-on attack, but it would give them plenty of time to hide anything incriminating or keep their secrets before it was breached.

With everything ready, it was time to send Gu Bei a letter.


	57. Chapter 57

The minion chosen as the messenger followed the address given on the mission notice and arrived at a vast courtyard in the southern area of the Skysoul Institute. This was where Gu Bei and Gu Lan stayed, but was just one of the Gu Clan's many properties. The large gate was shut tight, leaving only the side door open for entry, standing guard at the smaller door were two servants.

"May I ask who you're looking for?" One of the servants asked.

"I have a letter for young master Gu Bei that I was tasked to deliver personally."

The two servants shared a look before the younger of the two motioned for the messenger to follow him. The two of them entered an incredibly vast courtyard that opened up into a large garden dotted with pavilions. There was even a small bridge with water flowing below. It was like a scene of paradise, the air carrying the fragrance of heavenly flowers.

Soon, they reached a small courtyard that was well maintained, if a little spartan. The servant announced himself and respectfully requested an audience with Gu Bei. Two minutes later, a long-haired youth with handsome features walked over.

"Young master Bei, this man says he has a letter that he must personally deliver to you."

"Greetings young master Bei, I have been instructed to deliver this message to you and either guide you to my master or take back a response."

Gu Bei gave the messenger a once-over and then took the letter that had been held out for him. Breaking the seal, he read over the letter with a blank face. The only sign he was surprised by the letter's contents, was his eyes suddenly widening. Acting like everything was normal, he motioned for the gate servant to return to his post and for the messenger to follow him into his courtyard.

"If I am reading this correctly, then you master claims to be able to cure my sister, he even guarantees it! However, he wants me and my sick sister to travel to his private residence for treatment. This master Ling also wants me to keep the matter quiet, tell me, is this a trap to finish off my sister and me?" Asked Gu Bei, his expression slowly becoming more and more frosty.

"No, Young master. Master Hua Ling has complete confidence in treating your sister, but the case is sensitive. He believes that Gu Lan has been poisoned and that the Gu Family has prevented her treatment. How else could you explain her situation? He merely wants privacy to keep everything from blowing back on him." Said the messenger calmly, he had been given specific instructions on how to deal with the task of getting the Gu siblings to follow him.

Gu Bei was utterly shocked at the servant's words, he had long suspected it, but to hear it spoken out loud had destroyed his mask of composure. Looking around nervously, he continued to question the servant about the destination and treatment quietly, he wanted to make sure he was not lured to his death. Satisfied with the answers, he motioned for the messenger to follow him.

They walked along a small path and reached a more modest courtyard. Inside, there was a girl clothed in white who sat quietly on a chair. Her bright pupils were like autumn water and were embedded in her beautiful and delicate face like gems. With a calm and peaceful expression, she quietly stared at a purple flower on a small artificial mound. She had light-coloured lips that were as pale as water. Beneath the white clothes was her jade-bright skin. Traces of ill-coloured ash showed on her face, like a flower that might wither at any time.

"Beauty that lasts through the spring, the flower withers and people die unknowingly," the white-clothed girl muttered, with a trace of sadness between her brows.

"Elder sister." A gleam of tears flashed through Gu Bei's eyes. As he watched Gu Lan, his once high-spirited sister who had been rendered into such a state, Gu Bei felt as though his heart was being torn apart.

"Gu Bei, you're back?" The girl in white revealed a faint smile. Her eyes then fell onto the man behind Gu Bei as she asked, "This is?"

"This is a servant of a man that guarantees to heal you, but we must travel to his courtyard to receive treatment. At first, I thought it was a trap, but it would be impossible for them to kill us in the Skysoul Institute and remain alive afterwards." Said Gu Bei as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Before she could say anything, he took control of her wheelchair and started to guide her out of her yard. Every time a physician visited, she would always smile and reject them. But not this time, he was tired of seeing her so depressed, he ignored her protests and continued wheeling her towards the Gu compound's gates. He wanted to see the strong, vibrant sister that he was proud of once more. Today, he would see her cured!

An hour later, the Gu siblings were ushered into the newly minted clinic. Seeing that it was in the middle of the residential area gave them peace of mind, you would have to be crazy to kill them here! They were guided to meet Hua Ling, as he sat on his throne doing his best to look like a scholarly doctor. Unfortunately, he still looked like the arrogant young master he was initially, even in his new plain white robes.

"Greetings Gu Lan, Gu Bei, it is an honour to meet you. Thank you for believing in my skill and for showing your trust by coming here today. I realise that I appear to be too young to be a doctor of any skill, but I assure you, I am. Please have some tea." Said Hua Ling as courteously as he could. After all, even these out of favour brother and sister had ten times his standing and influence.

Shen Yue appeared with two cups of tea, handing the first to Gu Bei and the second to Gu Lan. As he handed off the second cup, he made sure to 'accidentally' touch Gu Lan's hand. Brief contact was all he needed, and his Library did the rest of the work.

[ Gu Lan, 18 years of age, Student of Skysoul Institute and member of the Divine Feathers Sect, a direct descendant of the Gu Clan,

4th Stage Heavenly Star

"Flaws: No.1, Cultivation technique is not compatible with soul realm form. No.2, Cultivation technique of poor quality, the errors are causing... No.3, Poisoned with a mixture of Scarlet Apex Herb and Serpent Fruit causing meridians to clog up, halting the progress of cultivation... ]

It was just like Nie Li had described in the novel, Gu Lan had been poisoned, causing her cultivation to fail so she would not be the next successor to the Clan. Ignoring the angry look from Gu Lan for touching her hand, he retreated to the side and took a kneeling position, just another dutiful servant.

Hua Ling had the poison's information and cure transmitted to him through his slave seal. Now he just had to put on a show for the Gu siblings. He looked at Gu Lan with a thoughtful expression.

"Your complexion speaks of a problem with your veins, do you mind if I feel your pulse?" Asked Hua Ling respectfully.

Gu Lan noticed that Hua Ling had been staring at her and she knitted her brows, and now he wanted to touch her? It was bad enough his clumsy servant dared to touch her hand, now this pompous quack also wanted to? But because Gu Bei was so insistent she could only nod her head, she didn't want to upset him.

Gaining permission, Hua Ling held her dainty wrist for a couple of minutes, receiving a frigid stare from the Gu Clan young miss.

"Doctor, did you find anything?" Gu Bei asked anxiously.

"She's not ill, nor had she run amok during cultivations. She was poisoned," said Hua Ling.

After Gu Bei heard this, his emotions were immediately stirred up as he looked at Hua Ling and asked, "Poisoned? You're saying that my sister was poisoned?"

Hua Ling nodded, "That's correct."

Gu Bei was puzzled, but the servant earlier had hinted at poison possibly being the reason behind his sister's sudden ailment. "But that's impossible! There have been so many physicians who've examined my sister before. If she's been poisoned, why didn't any of them notice it? Could it really be that the Gu Clan has abandoned us?"

Gu Lan, who sat to the side, also couldn't help staring at Hua Ling. This boy appeared the same age as Gu Bei, but could he actually be a physician? If she'd been poisoned, she would've definitely noticed it, so why couldn't she sense it?

"Have you guys heard of a herb called the Scarlet Apex Herb? When that herb is mixed with Serpent Fruit, it produces a colourless and tasteless poison. After consuming it, the veins will gradually clog up, halting the progress of cultivation. However, the poison itself is undetectable."

At the doctor's words, Gu Lan's heart trembled and she exchanged glances with Gu Bei. The symptoms she had experienced were just accurately described by this young doctor.

Gu Bei instantly grabbed Hua Ling's shoulders. "Then is this kind of poison curable?"

"You don't have to be so anxious. Your sister has been poisoned for much longer than just one or two days. I'm certain that she's been badly poisoned, but with the correct treatment, she will be back to perfect health. The poison within your body has been there for at least three years. If I were to give you heavy medications, I'm afraid your veins won't be able to handle them. I'll write another prescription first. Once the poison inside your body has been lessened, then I will administer a more rigorous prescription."

Hua Ling retrieved a piece of paper and a pen from his interspatial ring, wrote down a prescription, and handed it to Gu Bei. Gu Bei took one look at the note and instantly held it as if it was a priceless treasure.

"I'll go get these herbs!"

Everything had gone precisely as it had in the book, besides a few minor changes. Even the dialogue was mostly the same! Shen Yue supposed it had something to do with the fact that he had fed Nie Li's lines from the story to Hua Ling to say to Gu Bei. Now he just had to wait for the excited Gu Bei to return with the herbs, his plan was proceeding smoothly!


	58. Chapter 58

An awkward silence soon ensured after Gu Bei left to buy the herbs necessary for the cure. Shen Yue silently observed Gu Lan from the side. Pretending to be a servant would mitigate any scrutiny, but it also didn't allow him any chance to probe the guests for information. Gu Lan looked roughly eighteen or nineteen years old, and if she hadn't been sick for so many years, she would have definitely been a beauty. He was just about to command Hua Ling to say something when she suddenly spoke.

"Thank you, sir, for saving me." Said Gu Lan, her speech was neither fast nor slow, making listeners feel as though a cool breeze had blown by.

"You're being too polite, miss Gu. It's only natural for one to try their best when completing the missions from Cultivation Hall." Hua Ling replied as he lightly smiled.

Gu Lan nodded and continued to sit in a quiet mood. She pondered for a brief moment before she found a topic to talk about. "I wonder where sir came from?"

"I hail from the Little Heaven Realm, miss Gu. I would be surprised if you had ever heard of it."

Gu Lan had indeed never heard of such a minor Realm, after all, thousands of them were connected to the Draconic Ruins. With that conversational topic shut down, she could only ask another question to fill the awkward silence.

"You are very young to be such an accomplished physician, how come you are not better known? With your skills, the Sect would have financed your education or at the very least, offer you an apprenticeship."

"I'm afraid that I chafe under the control of others. I would have been content to practice medicine in anonymity if not for my father's current situation and my need for spiritual stones." Hua Ling wistfully informed her.

"A pity you did not need spiritual stones three years ago! I have not enjoyed the experience of being ostracised by my entire Clan and family. If it is not too rude to ask, what situation does your father find himself in that would force you to reveal your skills?" Gu Lan continued, her ashen white face still devoid of any emotion.

"I'm afraid it is nothing exciting, my father is competing for the position of Chief Enforcer of the Outer Division. Since he has supported me since childhood, the least I could do was secure him some support to fulfil his goals."

As Hua Ling and Gu Lan were chatting, Gu Bei quickly ran over with a bowl of brewed herbs. "This is the medicine that I concocted. Sister, give it a try." Gu Bei said as he passed it to her.

Gu Lan nodded as she received the bowl from Gu Bei, lowered her head, and started drinking. She had such a calm countenance that her expression remained as placid as ever, even as she swallowed the medicine. Her brows slightly frowned for a brief moment as she shut her eyes, searching for any change in her soul realm.

Gu Bei looked at her anxiously. After a brief moment, Gu Lan opened her eyes, looked at Hua Ling and said, "This medicine can indeed relieve the poison in my body. I can already sense traces of changes in my veins! Thank you so much for helping!" She couldn't help the small smile that graced her face as she thanked Hua Ling, it was the most emotion she had shown in years.

Gu Lan never imagined that this medicine would take effect so quickly. She'd always thought that her illness was incurable, so she'd gradually sealed away her heart. That is, until today. At last, she could see a trace of light in her life.

"It's good that it can help miss Gu Lan with your illness, you should follow this prescription for a month. After that, I'll change it to another prescription. After this treatment, I can guarantee that miss Gu Lan will be rid of her illness!"

Gu Bei was extremely excited. He had his doubts that the medicine would actually work, but as long as it could cure his sister's illness, he'd be willing to sacrifice anything.

"This is the reward for curing my sister. If you need any help in the future, don't hesitate to say the word. As long as I'm capable of accomplishing it, I will!" Gu Bei patted himself on the chest as he spoke and passed an interspatial ring filled with spiritual stones over to Hua Ling.

Hua Ling didn't check the contents of the ring, if Gu Bei ripped him off, the damage to his reputation would cost a hundred times the amount in the ring. Unlike with Nie Li, there was no talk of returning any spiritual stones for any overpayment. One thousand five hundred spiritual stones were nothing to the Gu Clan, even if it was all of Gu Bei's personal money. If a famed doctor had been called to cure Gu Lan, the amount would have been closer to a hundred thousand spiritual stones.

Shen Yue transmitted new instructions to Hua Ling as he stood and moved to gather the untouched, and now cold tea that he had served when they first arrived. He had not bothered to drug their drinks, as the Gu siblings were already cautious and on edge to start with. If they had a method to check for poison, Gu Lan could have wiped the floor with them, even as sick as she was. At the very least, she could cause enough of a disturbance to draw the attention of witnesses.

"Now that you have seen that my claims were true and that I am indeed able to cure your sister, I wonder if you have had a chance to think of the future? With already one attack on your sister, if you continue to live within the Gu Clan, you will need to proceed cautiously." Probed Hua Ling.

Gu Lan and Gu Bei's parents had died early. Although the children themselves were direct descendants with extraordinary talent, Gu Lan had lost the qualifications to become the Patriarch's successor because of her paralysis. Unless Gu Bei's cultivation suddenly soared, he also won't qualify as the successor. In the eyes of others, Gu Bei had always been a bit of a wastrel. However, in reality, Gu Bei had worked very hard towards his cultivation, and his talent wasn't inferior to his sister's.

"Sir, you don't have to be worried." Gu Lan naturally understood what Hua Ling was asking. "After this experience, I'm well aware that within our family are people after our lives. Since sir can cure me of my poison, we will conceal everything concerning the matter. As far as the outside world is concerned, I'll still be a handicapped person."

Hearing this, Gu Bei clenched his fists and stared at the ground in frustration. Their so-called Clan had actually been behind all of his family's problems! In this world, only his sister mattered to him, and his own Clan had actually been behind her pain and depression for the last three years! His mind was suddenly filled with different thoughts, but it was clear to everyone watching that revenge was the most predominant topic on his mind.

Hua Ling smiled, "The way I see it, you have three paths that you can walk. The first is to endure this attack and quietly continue with the status quo. The second is to fight back and become the next successor to the Clan, maybe even poison the one responsible. And the third is to leave the Clan and strike out on your own."

Gu Bei looked up at Hua ling, and his eyes seemed to glow with resolve, but it was the quiet Gu Lan that was the one to answer. "You are wrong, there is a fourth path. Destroy the Gu Clan and then build our own Clan."

Shen Yue was not expecting to hear such a vicious response from the seemingly frail woman. He had wanted to use this opportunity to draw the Gu siblings to his new faction, but destroying the mighty Gu Clan was a very bold move! Gu Heng was nothing to be concerned about, but there were many powerful elders and hidden experts that could squash them like bugs, Sect rules be damned! He quickly sent new instructions to Hua Ling.

"Miss Gu, I think you are aiming a little high. From my research into your problem, Gu Heng and his supporters were responsible for your situation. The rest of the Clan was content just to sit back and watch it play out.

Even if you want revenge, it will take years to achieve it, and the Divine Feathers Sect will not just sit back and watch you whittle away at one of their power bases. They would gladly wipe you out in favour of retaining their current strength, one or two low Realm children over a powerful Clan? You wouldn't know how you died!

But you are right about not letting them go unpunished, here is my plan..."


	59. Chapter 59

"At the moment, you and your brother are entirely out of the race of succession, Gu Heng is locked in to win. Since you have no wish to stay in a Clan that will be aligned against you, I suggest taking as many resources from it as possible before cutting ties with a legitimate reason.

Slapping their face by publically denouncing the Clan is one thing, they might try to cut off your future paths of cultivation, but they will be restrained by the Sect rules. However, if you start a war and damage the Sect's strength, it will only end with you two dead and probably with the Sect's blessing."

"But how would we get revenge if all we can do is steal some resources and leave the Clan?" Asked Gu Bei in frustration, he wished to inflict as much destruction on the Gu Clan as possible. Gu Lan also nodded her head, her thoughts were similar to her brother.

"Simple, their only candidate for the next leader of their Clan, is a petty tyrant that would destroy a family member if it was for his own benefit. What's to say what such a man would do for his personal gain? Steal resources, poison rivals, attack elders? All you need is a scapegoat for your revenge!

You were poisoned by Gu Heng with a rare poison that prohibits cultivation if not treated. Although it is unique, it is not like it is so exotic that no one can cure it. This will be the catalyst for your separation from the Gu Clan. If everyone in opposition of Gu Heng suddenly comes down with the same illness as Gu Lan, I guarantee that a cure will be found within days! Then you can ask how they so quickly found a treatment when you have been waiting for three years.

However, you will need outside help that can not be traced back to you two. If the servant used to poison the Gu Clan members is linked to you, you will definitely be executed." Hua Ling outlined the plan for resources and revenge.

As Gu Lan and Gu Bei digested the plan to satisfy their lust for revenge and help them break away from such a shameless Clan, Shen Yue brought out new cups of tea for everyone. Of course, it was still unpoisoned. There was no need to rush things when the stakes for failure were so high. As he watched everyone drink their tea, he smiled unnoticed at his servant's post to the side. The Gu siblings were practically already his!

An hour later, a determined brother and sister left Hua Ling's courtyard. They had come to an agreement to work together to strike a blow against the Gu Clan and split the profits equally. What they didn't know was that Hua Ling was but a pawn and that it was also their fate to end up the same way. Gu Lan had agreed to hold off on her treatment so that it would not raise any eyebrows when half the Clan needed to be cured of the same 'disease'.

If Gu Lan showed signs of recovery when the rest of the Clan suddenly came down with the same illness, then it would be evident that she had lashed out in revenge. Finding a cure for the poison that crippled her life and dreams, was like a light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Now that she knew it was possible to be healed, what was another month or two to satiate her craving to see the perpetrator punished for ruining her life.

With everything set in motion, the rest of the week was spent 'recruiting' the Earthen Fate Realm experts that had recently joined the Skysoul Institue. Since it only happened every ten years, there was a massive influx of talent and now would be the best time to 'convince' them to join their faction. Shen Yue only had to start the ball rolling by marking officers, they would then have their own squad of 'recruits' that they would brand with enslavement seals.

Since he had received one thousand five hundred spiritual stones from Gu Bei, Shen Yue thought he would promote all his officers to the Heavenly Fate Realm. Even though he would love to use them himself, there were simply not enough to feed the bottomless pit that was his Soul Realm. Nie Li thought he had problems trying to fill the endless void to promote to the next rank, Shen Yue's was on another level.

So instead of sinking his limited resources into his own fruitless cultivation, he gave it to his men to improve his factions overall strength. It was a lot easier to 'recruit' Earthen Fate Realm students when you could subdue them with your Heavenly Fate Realm aura alone. With his men taking care of increasing his troops, Shen Yue spent most of his time creating customising cultivation techniques for his men. Not only would it economise their cultivation, but it would also speed it up.

Because they did not start their cultivation with these techniques, they did not receive any mindblowing new abilities. But a stable foundation for fewer resources and at a faster pace than everyone else was a significant step up to what they could otherwise obtain as a random fighter in another faction. This by itself would probably draw in new recruits in droves, the only problem was that Shen Yue could not advertise his abilities without huge problems or possibly death!

So the new students had their Soul Realms marked and then handed cultivation techniques that others would literally kill for. Of course, they never knew that they were enslaved and thought it was their choice to join 'Hua Ling's' faction and devote everything they had to it. It was just another day of work slaving away when Gu Bei dropped by to hand over a list of the servants, members and elders belonging to Gu Heng's opposition. Without his sister or any guards present, this was the best time to 'convince' him to join the team permanently.

As Gu Bei greeted Hua Ling like a friend, Shen Yue sneak attacked him with a blast of his aura. For a guy that had yet to reach the Heavenly Fate Realm, he went down like a lead balloon. It was funny to Shen Yue that all theses wealthy scions like Long Yuyin and Gu Bei had yet to break through into the Heavenly Fate Realm even though they had been groomed for cultivation since birth. It made him laugh how people from lower Realms were looked down upon, but here he was turning the rich kids into slaves to do his bidding.

Now he was laughing about slavery, yep, Shen Yue had definitely embraced the wuxia lifestyle! He chuckled to himself as he branded Gu Bei and then used his Library to create a technique that would help him become the next Sect leader more easily. Shen Yue didn't mess with Gu Bei's mind too much because the guy was already a pretty decent person besides his lascivious nature. He just toned down his more radical vengeful thoughts towards his Clan and enforced his gratitude and loyalty towards Hua Ling.

Shen Yue didn't want his name even known by people with influence, that's what Hua Ling and Gu Bei were for. If there were going to be any assassinations or schemes, they would be the targets, not some unknown low ranked cultivator. Even after the Divine Feathers Sect was entirely under his control, Shen Yue still didn't plan to come out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Not until he was at least a Deity level cultivator and could defend against all threats. Other than pride, there was no need to expose himself as the puppet master.

With the final piece under his control, there was no need to continue exposing himself. Even as Hua Ling's servant was too risky, he didn't want to be associated with the faction. It was time to sit back and watch as his minions continue to expand while he concentrated on other things. Like how he was going to empty out the Gu Clan's spiritual stones and poison half the Clan! To be honest, Shen Yue didn't really have anything against the Gu Clan, they were merely one of many powerful groups that dominated the Draconic Ruins.

Their actions against Gu Lan and Gu Bei were pretty much par for the course when it came to succession wars, there was no need for Shen Yue to get emotional over it. It just made it a whole lot easier for him when he stole as much as he could from them! Now that Gu Bei was under his control and considered an officer, he could enslave Gu Heng's servants himself. This would speed up the project immensely, as the plan had been to wait for them to leave the Gu Clan compound and somehow enslaving them unnoticed.

Now, Gu Bei only had to order them to taste his food or engineer a situation that would make it easy for him to incapacitate the servants so he could brand their Soul Realms, turning them into dedicated assassins. If they were ever captured or suspected, Gu Bei could make them shout out some incriminating words and then detonate their Soul Realm. Gu Heng was about to be in a world of shit!


	60. Chapter 60

It only took three days for Gu Bei to enslave five servants that were on the list of Gu Heng's trusted subordinates that had access to the kitchens. There was not just one central kitchen that supplied the entire Clan, but ten different ones with varying levels of security depending on who they served food to. Luckily, one of the servants that Gu Bei managed to capture had access to three elders.

Although he would not be able to poison everyone not allied to Gu Heng, three elders, their families and factions should get the point across. Of course, these five servants also had access to Gu Heng and his six allied elders. Shen Yue needed spiritual stones, and since he planned to stir up a hornet's nest in the Gu Clan, why not rob them while he poisoned everyone? Since it would be impossible to raid the Clan's treasury without being exposed, why not just take interspatial rings?

This would weaken the setup against Gu Heng, but why would Shen Yue care? His main goal was to gain resources and power, not get retribution for every 'evil' young master that his subordinates had issues with. The Gu siblings will be happy with the outcome regardless if Gu Hen is harshly punished or not. Especially when he finally manages to 'recruit' Gu Lan, then he only needs to 'tell' her that she is happy! The hardest part was finding out where to buy the Scarlet Apex Herb and Serpent Fruit that was necessary for the colourless and tasteless poison.

But with the five converted servants doing the looking, it would be just one more piece of evidence against Gu Heng. They also picked up some potent sedatives that would work on Dao of Dragon Elders. While the poison would take a week or so before the symptoms would show, Shen Yue wanted to rob everyone first before their guard was up. To do that, he would need the Elders comatose so the servants could transfer the contents of their rings.

Fortunately, there were no soul marks or seals on the rings that would restrict access, like in other Wuxia stories. This way, instead of just removing the rings, it will take a bit of time before the owners realise they have been cleaned out. Any traceable items or Clan artifacts will be put in Gu Heng's interspatial ring just as another 'fuck you' to the Clan. Anyone with a brain would realise that he was set up, but it would only add to the shitstorm when everyone realised that they were poisoned.

It was a week later when Gu Bei gave the go-ahead to the servants. With the brilliant invention of the interspatial ring, it was too easy to smuggle the poison into the food meant for Gu Ya, the First Clan Elder, and his two confidant Elder's family and men belonging to their factions. Since the servants selected to carry out the attack were trusted members of the Clan, no one suspected them of such a heinous crime. Although it was easy to poison their food, it was too challenging to gain access to their courtyards to rob them. Since this was the case, Shen Yue had instructed Gu Bei only to pillage Gu Heng and his allies.

With one faction poisoned and the opposing faction robbed blind, the Patriarch had his work cut out for him trying to keep the Clan united. With the poisoning complete, it was now time for phase two of the plan. No one blinked an eye when six Elders felt tired and retired to their private courtyards early, nor when the guards nodded to the trusted servants they saw everyday entering with serving trays of tea. It was just another regular night in the heavily guarded Gu compound.

With the six Elder's interspatial rings emptied into multiple different spare rings, the servants met at a prearranged deserted area of the compound where Gu Bei was waiting. The contents were sorted, and anything that could be traced back to the Gu Clan was placed in one ring ready to plant on Gu Heng. While that servant took all the stolen goods and went to carry out his mission, Gu Bei cleared up any evidence tieing him to the crime. With his control through the slave seal, he altered the four unwitting pawns memory to seem as if it had all been ordered by Gu Heng.

Shen Yue had researched mindreading capabilities of this universe while he waited for Gu Bei to recruit his assistants in punishing his Clan. He found nothing to suggest that a Martial Ancestor could search a person's mind for memories that could implicate them, especially after he altered their victim's memory. Since killing the poor bastards would create more problems than they would solve, brainwashing some fanatics that thought Gu Heng's arse smelt like a rose garden into believing they were on a secret mission for him, seemed like fun.

With them believing they had just handed off their ill-gotten goods to Gu Heng's trusted attendant, they headed back to their rooms as the slave seal started to disperse. By the time they woke up in the morning, no matter how thoroughly their soul realm was searched, there would be no evidence of foul play, and they would believe they had completed a mission for their young master. Meanwhile, Gu Heng had his interspatial ring emptied and then filled with everything hard to sell. Shen Yue had also given Gu Bei a few ideas to prank the object of his hatred.

It may have been childish and left Gu Bei unsatisfied with the lack of bloodletting, but you could never go wrong with putting the victim's hand in warm water and drawing a dick on their face! With Gu Bei's less than enthusiastic reception to his idea, it was clear that this world had not really been introduced to the genius of dick jokes or humiliating pranks. It was a pity he would not be there to see it, but he couldn't stop giggling when he imagined all the stern members of the Clan wondering at the male genitalia covering the next Clan leader's face.

After the attendant added a few artistic strokes for the ball hair, he stored everything and left the room. His last job to do tonight was to leave the compound and hand off everything to a few of Shen Yue's slaves. They would split up the loot before hiding it in their rooms. This way, if there was somehow a way to track the rings, they should be able to salvage most of the loot. Shen Yue didn't want to be caught red-handed with the Gu Clan's stolen booty, so he planned to wait a week or two before receiving it.

With the servant's memories altered and the slave seal removed when he returned to the compound, everyone went to bed as if nothing had happened. With all the evidence erased and the minion's minds altered, there should be no way to trace it back to Shen Yue. A Martial Ancestor Realm expert should be unable to link the guilty party to the crime, even if they somehow suspect Gu Bei of playing a part. Through the slave seal in Gu Bei's Soul Realm, Shen Yue was able to read his thoughts as the mission was carried out. The amount of loot he saw in the rings had him rubbing his hands together in anticipation!

It turns out, being an Elder of the Gu Clan brought many benefits. Just the spiritual stones in one Elder's ring alone equalled to fifty to a hundred thousand! Gu Heng had a whopping ninety thousand, not at all lacking for one of the top youngsters of the Sect. Considering he has about seven hundred followers in his Blood Moon League, gathering resources must be a lot easier than people that have to work for others or acquire wealth for themselves. He was also a Central District student and had nearly the full support of his Clan, he could not appear to be deficient in front of others!

Unfortunately, all that wealth and that of his supporters were now destined to fund Shen Yue's bid on the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting. With that taken care of, Shen Yue now only had to concentrate on building up his forces and not drawing the attention of the hidden experts of the Sect. The only variable in his plans was the controversy surrounding the future of the Gu siblings.

When they left the Clan, they would lose the protection that came with belonging to a significant Sect family, but the Sect rules should protect them from death. If they were to be suddenly killed off for no reason, not only the Clan, but the Sect would receive harsh criticism. Who would want to join a Sect that brazenly killed its disciples? If those with Heaven grade Spiritual Roots could be killed off, there was no way other talents would join the Divine Feathers Sect!

Especially now that they would have a legitimate reason for leaving their Clan. Still, as Shen Yue waited and watched through Gu Bei for news of the theft, he could not help but worry. What if there was some unknown factor that was not mentioned in the novel? The risk was still worth taking. Unless he wanted to sell off demon spirits and strengthen his enemies, he could only carefully gather resources. He could not even steal a Deity's Lake as it would not fit in the Jade Immortal's Realm. But once he got his hands on that painting, he would have unlimited spiritual stones!


	61. Chapter 61

The next day, the morning had come and gone, but the Elders that were targeted with the potent sedatives were still sleeping. Since there was no set duty for Clan Elders, they were free to do as they pleased as long as they looked after the Clan's interest. Six Elders sleeping in was overlooked, especially since they had complained to their servants of feeling overly tired.

It wasn't until Gu Heng's attendant went to check on him that the alarm was raised. He was greeted by the sight of his young master still asleep, but the artwork covering Gu Heng's face bespoke of something wrong. The servant immediately tried to rouse him by shaking and calling out for his young master, but only succeeded when he used his soul force to incite a response. Once Gu Heng was awake, he immediately called the guards. He was only a 3 stage Heavenly Star and the sedative capable of knocking out Dao of Dragon experts was still affecting him.

Gu Heng ordered everyone that rushed to his call to see if anything was missing, but after a brief search, the room seemed to be untouched. Gu Heng had used this time to search his body and soul realm for any changes but could find nothing amiss other than the groggy feeling from the tranquilliser.

It wasn't until he checked his interspatial ring that he discovered the target of the intruder. Except for his personal effects and equipment that he was given by the Gu Clan, he had been cleaned out. There was also a pile of high-grade artifacts that he quickly identified as belonging to some of the Elders that supported him.

Gu Heng was a petty tyrant, but he was not stupid. These high-level items could be sold for a fortune to any cultivator, but they would easily be identified and traced back to the seller. The Gu Clan was a massive Sect family and had a lot of influence, the weapons and armour all held the Clan insignia, making them recognisable to anyone with eyes. Since there was no such thing as kind-hearted thieves, the person responsible had filled his ring with everything that they would be unable to use or sell.

Greed quickly flashed through Gu Heng's eyes before logic and reason mercilessly squashed it. There was no way he could keep them, so he had to make it known that he was now in possession of obviously stolen items. Doubly so since he recognised the third Elder's things. Gu Yu was one of his staunchest supporters for becoming the next Patriarch, there was no way that he would be involved in a plot to discredit Gu Heng! Realising that even his supporting Elders had been targeted, he sent his guards to rouse them and meet in Gu Yu's courtyard.

The attendant responsible for 'giving' Gu Heng the spoils from last night's operation was confused. Why did they go through all the trouble of stealing everything if they were just going to give it back? And who drew that thing on his face? But this attendant had been serving the young master for many years and had learned not to question orders.

Perhaps this was all part of a plot to frame their opposition? Either way, the servant was very clear on the fact that he could never reveal anything. If it were discovered he had taken part in the operation, he would instantly be silenced before he could spill any information that could betray the young master!

In the hectic time between Gu Heng waking up and running off to Gu Yu's courtyard, no one had told him of the phallus inked onto his face. Whether they had been too afraid to be the first to speak up or sidetracked with searching for anything missing, they had now missed the opportunity as their young master was disappearing from sight in his haste to reach Gu Yu. They suddenly gasped in fear when they realised that telling him before he exposed his shame to the Clan would have carried a far lighter punishment than when he returned humiliated!

Luckily, since Gu Heng was the one to raise the alarm, he was also the first to arrive at Gu Yu's courtyard. Only five minutes had passed after receiving Gu Heng's messenger, and Gu Yu had just sat down to wait for the rest of the Elders to arrive.

His fierce expression was a testament to the fact that he had also been robbed, he was not in the mood for pleasantries, so he just gestured for Gu Heng to take a seat. But even though he was steaming in rage, he was astounded by the vulgar image adorning the future Patriarch's face! It was a full five seconds of gaping incredulously before he could summon his thoughts.

"What the hell is on your face?" Gu Yu manage to utter.

"What do you mean?" Gu Heng replied wiping his face, afraid that in his haste to get here, he had left drool marks or something marring his usual dignified appearance.

"Nevermind, just quickly go wash it off before the others arrive!"

But before Gu Heng could even make it ten steps to the bathroom, the other five Elders started to arrive. With the speed of a Dao of Dragon expert, it did not take long for them to traverse the short distance to the third Elder's courtyard. What greeted them was their candidate for the Patriarch's seat with a huge cock and balls covering his face.

The artist had taken great care to add hair around the balls, going as far as to draw drops of liquid down the side of his face. He tried his best to ignore the shocked looks of the Elders and headed to the bathroom to wash off whatever kept causing people to stare at him.

"What was that on his face? Why the hell would he walk around with that on his face in public?" Asked the Ninth Elder of the Clan when Gu Heng had left the room.

"I suspect it was courtesy of whoever stole from us, an extra insult to our choice of Patriarch candidate." Replied Gu Yu.

The Elders stared at each other with dumbfounded expressions, who would be so crude as to draw a penis on another man's face? Five minutes later, a very embarrassed Gu Heng joined the table where the Elders waited.

"We must find whoever is responsible and slowly torture them to death!" He said as his now clean fare radiated heat from either his furious scrubbing or the shame he was feeling.

The Elders all nodded, this crime could not go unpunished. Respect was more valuable than a person's life in the martial world, and they just had theirs thrown on the ground and pissed on! What followed was a lengthy debate about how to proceed next. Should they bring this to the Patriarch and demand justice?

Or swallow the insult until they found out whoever was responsible and deal with them personally? Even though they recovered their Clan equipment from Gu Heng, they would not be reimbursed by the Clan for the loss of their wealth. The best they could hope for was cooperation in catching and punishing the criminals, but then this matter would be known by everyone.

In the end, they decided to deal with this attack personally, and leave the Clan out of it. Much better to personally torture to death those responsible than just have the Clan reprimand them under the Sects rules! The most punishment the culprits would receive would possible be a month of being locked up in the Frost Cellar, a light sentence as far as the Elders were concerned!

So they gritted their teeth and swallowed the humiliation they had received. There would be time enough for revenge when they found the culprit, no need to rush into the enemy's trap and expose to the whole Sect what had happened.

Shen Yue was amazed at the ability of Gu Heng and the Elders to keep the matter quiet, he was sure the would charge out of their courtyards like a wounded bull, screaming for retribution! It looked like he had underestimated them, an intelligent enemy was much more dangerous than a stupid, predictable one. Unfortunately for them, it was only the first step in his plan to attack them. With them keeping the matter to themselves, it would only seem like an excuse if they brought it up in the future!

Since Shen Yue could only wait for the effects of the poison to reveal itself, he concentrated on Hua Ling's forces that were out guarding the Ling Jade Deity's Lake. Hua Ling had formed a small contingent of about sixty people that were mostly Heavenly Fate Realm experts from the Little Heaven Realm.

Although they were in the Heavenly Fate Realm, some of them had formed their sixth or seventh Fate Soul. Since Shen Yue was still playing in the little leagues, these people would help immensely against anyone making trouble. After all, Murong Yu, the genius from the year before that caused problems for Nie Li, had only formed his fifth Fate Soul.


	62. Chapter 62

Thanks to access to Hua Ling's mind through the slave seal, Shen Yue was well aware of the Ling Jade Deity Lake's situation. It was a low-grade Deity's Lake that was on the verge of drying up. Initially, it'd be impossible for people with Hua Ling's power to gain control of an entire Deity's Lake. The only reason why Hua Ling could occupy it was because it produced too few spiritual stones to be worth wasting manpower on to the real movers and shakers of the Sect. Of course, this didn't bother Shen Yue at all, because as soon as he got the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting, it would turn into a money-making machine!

In the outside world, all kinds of forces were fighting to control Deity's Lakes. The more Deity's Lakes a force could occupy, the more underlings they'd be able to recruit and expand their influence. Hua Ling's small group was basically the bottom of the barrel in terms of the pecking order in the outside world. But they were currently stronger than what Shen Yue had under his control. While he was waiting for things in the Gu Clan to develop, he would send out Hua Ling to bring these new members into the fold.

With another object on his list of things to do ticked off, it was time to get his newly promoted Heavenly Fate Realm underlings making some spiritual stones. The easiest way to do that was to farm the Ghastly Ruins. The Ghastly Ruins is one of the three training grounds at the Divine Feathers Sect' s Skysoul Institute and was founded by one of the Sect's ancestors. The ruins were filled with a large number of Ghouls that dropped Soul Scales when killed which could be traded for spiritual stones. Unfortunately, there were a few limitations placed on the training ground that made exploiting it hard for the average students.

But those with large forces could reap a lot more benefits than if they were working alone. Even though each person is teleported to a different section of the ruins when accessing the training grounds, it was not impossible to form teams. If a hundred people entered the Ruins at the same time, there was a good chance that five or so would appear in the same section. And this did not even take into account the slave seal connecting the officers to their minions. The other restriction placed on the training ground was that soul scales would disappear if they were removed from the testing grounds or placed in an interspatial ring. They could only be carried around in cloth bags and had to be exchanged at the end of every test.

Once a thousand soul scales have been gathered, they would combine to form a single larger soul scale, making it easier to carry. Each student was only allowed to remain in the Ghastly Ruins for a maximum of two days per month; otherwise, the ruins would be overpopulated. Earth ranked Spiritual Root students at the Skysoul Institute only received a monthly allowance of just one spiritual stone a month, so gaining thirty for killing a thousand ghouls was like winning the lottery for the needy students. The soul scales could also be used to redeem other things like Demon Spirits, spiritual stone essences, artifacts, and various other items. If the students didn't have a time limit on how long they could stay in the Ruins, it would be packed with students that never left. Spiritual stones were hard to come by, so the Sect would make sure they didn't have to pay out any more than they needed to.

Shen Yue had used the one thousand five hundred spiritual stones from Gu Bei to promote over a hundred and fifty new recruits to the Heavenly Fate Realm. Unlike people with monstrous cultivation techniques like Nie Li and Shen Yue, the average student only needed ten or so spiritual stones to advance from the Earthen Fate. With slavery taking out all the jealousy and greed of the equation in teaming up, his newly promoted minions should each be able to gather over ten thousand soul scales. If Long Yuyan could gather thirty thousand before she even reached the Heavenly Fate Realm, a group of them working as one should be able to achieve a better result.

Shen Yue decided to let his minions enter first to test the waters, he planned to join the next group that would promote to the Heavenly Fate Realm using the spiritual stones gathered from this excursion into the Ruins. The Ghastly Ruins were filled with danger, especially compared to the Saint Soul Grounds, another one of the three testing grounds. Depending on the situation, someone might also try to rob them or hamper their progress when competing over killing ghouls. Shen Yue would use this group to find out the difficulty of the Ruins, after all, they had not stored a Fate Soul to resurrect yet. Although experts would step in if students were about to be killed, there was a high chance of being injured.

So as not to cause a scene, Shen Yue had the minions enter in groups of ten and stagger their entry. As the first group approached the entrance of the Ghastly Ruins, they encountered a weird vortex guarded by two experts. Before they were allowed to jump into the vortex, their school tokens had to be scanned.

*Woosh!* *Woosh!* *Woosh!* *Woosh!* *Woosh!* *Woosh!*

They materialised in a stretch of ruins that covered a thousand miles. Everywhere as far as the eye could see was crumbled and ruined walls, forming an apocalyptic scenery. A grand structure must have stood here at some point, but now it had become a ruin to be used for training. The sky was ashen-grey, and an ill wind blew by. Occasionally, a herd of ghosts drifted through the air, wailing as they flickered in and out of perception. These were the Ghouls that had to be killed. They were grouped in the thousands, and even though individually, they were of Earth Fate Realm, they'd be challenging to handle in such large numbers.

As if they could sense the aura of a human, they screamed as they rained down upon the intruders. In different areas of the Ghastly Ruins, the minions merged with their demon beast spirits and fought off the masses of ghouls attacking them. They unleashed their strongest attacks, killing some but not enough to stem the tide that still charged at them. With no other choice, they could only retreat and wait for others to enter so they could join up and gank these cheating ghoul bastards. Withdrawing now instead of stubbornly fighting on was the correct decision, there was no need to accumulate injuries because of pride. They were here to train and make money, getting injured now would stop them from doing both.

An hour later, things were a lot different. Everyone had appeared in the Ghastly Ruins and joined up with those near them, the slave seal created by the Libary of Heaven's Path was really overpowered. Now the tables had turned, and it was the ghouls running from the fight. A Heavenly Fate expert could kill a hundred Legend fighters, but thousands of them was a different story. Now that they had people to fight alongside them, they quickly overpowered the ghouls and went on a slaughter. The hardest part was picking up all the soul scales!

Shen Yue watched on as his men charged through the Ruins killing ghouls, and smiled to himself. Switching through the minds of his officers, he was pleased with what he saw. They had two days to kill as many as they could, and at this pace, they were going to make a tidy profit. Since everything was going well, he decided to catch up on some sleep. The constant scheming and cultivating left him little time to enjoy just shutting off and relaxing in bed. He crawled under the covers and drifted off to sleep.

Unfortunately, there was never any rest for the wicked. Five hours had passed before Shen Yue was rudely awakened by an urgent message from Lu Han, one of the minions that had come with him from Glory City. Since his officers did not have a link to Shen Yue's soul realm like his wives, they could only manually send someone to inform him of the problem. It seemed that his men had come under attack from a greedy student envious of the men's teamwork and efficiency in harvesting soul scales. Murong Yu had attacked three different groups already, humiliating them as he robbed them of their soul scales.

Even though they had not been using flashy moves like Nie Li, they had still attracted his attention with how many ghouls they were killing. It was a good thing that Shen Yue had not entered with his men, as he would have also run the risk of being bullied by this scoundrel. Since the minions were clear on the reason for entering the Ruins, they continued to harvest soul scales and sent a runner to ask for guidance on how to deal with Murong Yu.

"It seems that Murong Yu is an overbearing and vicious shit stain that likes to bully the weak but lick the arseholes of the strong. Since he desires a conflict, let's give him what he wants!" Said Shen Yue to Lu Han as his eyes flickered with a savage gleam.


	63. Chapter 63

Coincidently, Shen Yue had planned his excursion into the Ghastly Ruins the same day that Murong Yu was also harvesting ghouls. It seems that Murong Yu was planning to rob anyone that had a goodly amount of soul scales, not just the attention seeker Nie Li. But why had he chosen to loot Shen Yue's minions? Sure, they were working together quite efficiently, but it was not like teaming up was a new concept! In the novel, even Hua Ling managed to coordinate a group to meet up and harass Nie Li, let alone more powerful factions.

Shen Yue quickly scanned through his officers' minds to get a first-hand view of what had happened. The first three he checked had been steadily killing ghouls with no problems, and it wasn't until he checked the mind of the fourth officer did he find what he was looking for. It was very similar to what had happened with Nie Li, Murong Yu made a weak excuse and then stole their soul scales. The only difference was that there was no one from Hua Ling's men creating trouble. This time, they were part of the group of victims getting robbed! As Shen Yue watched the memory play out like a movie, he was amazed at the shamelessness of the supposed genius of the previous year.

The officer slave looked up at the sky, he had sensed a powerful aura just as someone appeared. Murong Yu blatantly looked down at the six men, analysing their strength.

"You're new recruits?"

They had only recently made a breakthrough to the Heavenly Fate Realm, but for newcomers of this year, their strength was pretty decent.

"That's right, and you are?" Asked the officer.

"I'm Murong Yu!" He proudly announced. A good majority of the younger experts were well aware of his name, but fresh recruits like them had no idea who he was. Since they didn't want to cause trouble and harm their harvest speed, the officer responded politely.

"Nice to meet you, is there something you need from us?"

"I was just passing by and noticed that you were cheating to gather more soul scales. This is a testing ground to train your skills, not group up to kill ghouls. I'm afraid that I am going to have to confiscate all the soul scales you have as punishment!" Said Murong Yu as he made a slight beckoning motion with his right hand. The team's bags of soul scales flew towards him.

"What cheat-like methods? The Ghastly Ruins doesn't have any rules on what methods could be used to kill ghouls! You are not even a law enforcer of the Skysoul Institute; what right do you have to confiscate our soul scales?" Yelled Shen Yue's infuriated officer. They had spent many hours gathering those soul scales and were angry to see them snatched by force.

Murong Yu looked down at them from his position in the sky and used his superior cultivation to suppress the six slave comrades. It was as if he was trying to crush their bodies into the ground. It was unfair to bully weaker opponents; however, this was a world where only strength mattered! Murong Yu landed on the ground and looked at the leader with a smile that wasn't a smile. He walked up to the underling, then punched him in the stomach with a cruel smirk. After being hit by Murong Yu's punch, the unfortunate minion's back arched like a prawn as his face twisted in pain. He could only furiously glare at Murong Yu.

"You dare to glare at me?" Murong Yu raised a leg and dropped it on the man's head, smashing his head to the ground with a cold smile. "You need to show respect when you meet someone stronger than you. Get it?"

"Murong Yu, I apologise!" The underling finally spat those words from his mouth as he felt like his brains were about to burst.

"There we go!" Murong Yu snorted and took a look his victims' soul scale bags, then said in a disdainful voice, "You only managed to hunt a little over ten thousand ghouls each, with all of you working together? Trash!" Upon finishing his words, Murong Yu tucked the soul scales away.

Shen Yue's nameless officer was filled with rage, but he could only remain on the ground with his head under Murong Yu's foot. Murong Yu kicked him as he laughed at the struggling recently promoted Heavenly Fate student.

"Pretend to be a dog and give me three good barks. Then I'll let you go!"

The man hesitated for a bit, but eventually gave in as he sensed Murong Yu's foot pressing down harder and harder. In the end, it was easier just to appease this sadist's need for dominance. Without strength, you will only be humiliated by others! He opened his mouth and barked three times, "Woof, woof, woof."

Murong Yu laughed, "Not bad, not bad! Almost like the real thing!"

Satisfied with the humiliation of a random stranger, Murong Yu released the poor guy and flew off into the sky. Probably in search of other victims.

Shen Yue stopped watching the man's memories and plotted what to do next. Nie Li had left the Ghastly Ruins to bide his time until he had the strength to repay Murong Yu for his actions. But unlike Nie Li, Shen Yue had the power to put this shameless bastard in his place now! He connected to Hua Ling's mind and gave him new instructions. Once Hua Ling enslaved his men at the Ling Jade Deity's Lake, he was to loot it and bring all his men back and enter the Ghastly Ruins. Let's see how Murong Yu likes to be on the receiving side of bullying!

Giving up the Deity's Lake would be slightly annoying for his future plans, but Shen Yue had intended to uproot it and place it in the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting anyway. If another force managed to take it over in the short time it was unguarded, then it was doubtful that it would be by an influential faction. They would just let them hold onto it before killing them all later when they had the painting. The Deity's Lake was near death and only produced three thousand spiritual stones a year, the sixty Heavenly Fate experts guarding it would make more in one trip to the Ghastly Ruins.

There was no need to panic over one Deity's Lake, it's not like it was going anywhere! No one other than the cheater Nie Li could destroy it, and he was in a different Sect. It would take him at least a year to gain the strength necessary to make the journey to the Divine Feather's territory. For now, they were safe from the red-headed annoyance, plenty of time to prepare for his eventual arrival!

The next day, Murong Yu was still terrorising the people in the Ghastly Ruins. Since he had already been there for a full day, it would be close to the time he would have to leave the testing ground. During this time, he had stumbled upon two other groups of Shen Yue's minions, and even attacked a couple of the already robbed groups! Shen Yue had to give him a modicum of respect, he was an accomplished bandit. But thanks to Shen Yue's orders, the men just handed over their scales and then continued to hunt ghouls. There was no need to invite more injuries and humiliation, they would be getting them back soon anyway!

Hua Ling had entered the training grounds alongside his seasoned men. Since he was the officer to enslave them, he would be able to organise their meeting point, and better coordinate their attack on the dastardly Murong Yu. They had wasted a fair bit of time returning to the Sect from the Deity's Lake and were on a tight schedule, they couldn't afford to let the thief leave! Luckily, they were all Shen Yue's slaves, and thanks to his overpowered ability to connect to his officers' Soul Realms and minds, they were able to triangulate Murong Yu's rough location. In an area that covered hundreds of kilometres, this saved them a lot of time needlessly searching.

Soon, thirty of them managed to meet up with Hua Ling and move to where their target was killing as many ghouls as he could before leaving the testing grounds. With their prey sighted, they covered their heads so they would not be identified. Why would they want to suffer retaliation from someone as connected as Murong Yu? Clear on the plan of attack, they moved to surround the bastard and give him a thrashing he would never forget!

Murong Yu looked up and saw a group of people approaching from all sides, it was clear they were not here with good intentions. But who was he? He was a genius of the Skysoul Institute, he could slay hundreds of trash like these students! He calmly waited for them to get in position before sneering at them.

"What do you trash want? Do you even know who I am?"

One of the masked men stepped forward, "I think you are the guy we are looking for. Are you the rent boy with the magical tongue? Able to lick clean even the dirtiest of arseholes?"


	64. Chapter 64

Murong Yu's mind shut down for a few seconds as it tried to process what he just heard. Rent boy? Lick dirty arseholes? What the hell is happening? Do these trash think I am a male prostitute? So many questions overloaded his brain, causing him to gape like a fish out of water. Finally, Murong Yu came to the conclusion that they were insulting him!

"How dare you! No one has been brave enough to disrespect me in years!"

"What disrespect, I only spoke the truth! How else would a supposed genius like yourself remain unaffiliated with any faction? I heard that you whore yourself out to anyone more powerful than yourself for ten spiritual stones a session!" Said the masked stranger.

Murong Yu's face flushed red with either shame or anger, most likely a mixture of both. His desire to be recognised as the strongest, influenced him to suppress others ruthlessly, and he would not hesitate to manipulate others to accomplish his goals. Murong Yu was usually

quite intelligent in how he acted, never offending anyone that could harm his path to the top. That was why he had managed to befriend the powerful factions and yet still remain free to act as he pleased. But with his overbearing and vicious personality, being surrounded by this group of masked men that so thoroughly insulted him, that intelligence was replaced with mindless fury!

"I'll kill you!" Murong Yu screamed, his voice had turned into sonic blades and flew towards the person that had now become his most hated enemy. Murong Yu hadn't even drawn his sword yet, but there was already sword intent contained in his voice.

The masked man that had only been saying what he was ordered to felt death lunging at him through the impending sonic blades. Luckily, he had condensed his seventh Fate Soul, allowing him to see the incoming sonic blades from Murong Yu's furious shout. The minion immediately dodged sideways and merged with his demon spirit. The rest of the masked minions quickly followed suit and launched attacks of their own.

Seeing that his sonic blades missed, Murong Yu cursed as he swept his palm in a slapping motion towards the man on his right, sending a palm of energy to block the incoming attack while he drew his sword. These trash students would soon feel his wrath! Unfortunately, the man to his right was not the only one to send out an attack before merging with their demon spirit, and Murong Yu received five hits that dealt quite a bit of damage to his unprotected back. Finally drawing his sword, he viciously turned and slashed it towards the cowards that had dared to attack him from behind, channelling his pain and rage into his sword.

A terrifying wind blade filled with sword intent flew towards two people that were still in the middle of morphing into their beast form. But the benefit of attacking in a group was that others could help when you were in trouble. Five people that had already transformed launched their own attacks to counter the terrifying sword energy whistling towards their friends. However, Murong Yu was not called a genius for no reason, his attack cut through the different strikes only to have most of its power drained, still reaching its targets. The now weakened attack still managed to cut a centimetre deep and reveal a horizontal line of blood across both their bodies.

Luckily most of the energy had been defused; otherwise, it could have cut the two students in half! Everyone there was a cultivator, their senses were a hundred times that of a base human. They all witnessed the vicious attack that nearly killed their two friends. They had been attacking with the intent to subdue Murong Yu, not kill him. So they had moderated their strength when they threw out a few fist and palm strikes before they transformed, just enough to cause a bit of pain and humiliation to give themselves time to change.

But Murong Yu had retaliated with the intent to kill! Even with the school rules promising harsh punishment, he dared to kill or cripple! Where were the Elders that oversaw the training grounds? Why had they not stepped in to punish Murong Yu's actions now that he had tried to murder two students? Was it because the attack was blocked and only the end result was punished, not the intent behind the attack? Suddenly, the masked minion's faces turned ice cold. If the Elders were not going to step in, then they were going to take off the kid gloves!

Murong Yu was too filled with rage to notice the change that went through his enemies. His only goal was to kill or maim anyone that dared to spit on his honour! His sword swept out in two different directions, filled with sword intent and the overwhelming strength of a one in a million talent. But the masked minions had finished morphing into their bestial forms, their strength multiplied with their demon spiritualist powers.

Twenty-eight Heavenly Fate Realm experts that all had above four Fate Souls unleashed full-powered attacks to nullify the two sword strikes easily. Then they turned their hate-filled eyes towards Murong Yu, who was from Skysoul Institute's East District. Someone that was apparently above the rules that were followed by everyone else in the other Districts. They had only set out to humiliate this arrogant brat, maybe beat him a little and steal all of his soul scales. But now, they were going to beat him like an unwanted red-headed stepchild, and take everything he owned!

Let's see how he likes the stares of thousands of 'common' people as he walks back to his precious East District battered, bruised and naked. Since the Elders only wanted to punish end results, then they just had to make sure they didn't cripple the precious celebrity. Hell, they could even pass it off as training! They were merely tempering his spirit and giving him the motivation to train harder! Hua Ling quickly telepathically gave the order to beat the daylights out of this vicious sh*thead, but not to take it to far. Even with all the resentment, they felt towards Murong Yu for trying to kill their friends, they were not stupid enough to kill or cripple a star pupil.

They were not retarded, if they crippled a famous person like Murong Yu, they would be harshly punished to set an example. The Sect only cared about increasing its power and influence, they would support a genius over a hundred nobodies any day of the week. But Hua Ling was privy to his Lord's plans, and with the backing of Gu Bei, they could show this piece of excrement his new place in the world! After today, Murong Yu would be too ashamed to show his face in public!

Murong Yu was the type of person to ruthlessly humiliate people until they could never raise his head towards him again. He always tried to leave his shadow in their heart, to impeding their cultivation, causing them never to rise again to challenge him!

But today, he was going to enjoy some of his own medicine. Even though Murong Yu was talented and could fight against ten of Hua Ling's men, thirty was just too many. Different attacks ranging from fire to lightning landed on their outnumbered victim. Because Murong Yu had a grandiose dream of standing at the top, he had not contracted himself to another faction, his pride would not allow it. This meant that he had to equip himself and gather his own resources for cultivation, even in the East District spiritual stones were scarce. If he had been an underling of a powerful clan, he would have been wearing an armour artifact of at least the fifth grade, greatly nullifying all of the attacks that were currently pounding him like he was a prison b*tch!

Even after years of saving, he had only managed to amass enough to buy his sword, a grade six artifact created by the Gods Craft Pavilion. This had cost him everything he owned, fifty thousand spiritual stones. That was why a prideful person like him was currently slaving away in the Ghastly Ruins, he needed money! Unfortunately, he robbed the wrong people. Without any armour, the different attacks were punishing his body and reserves of soul force he used to help negate most of the damage. Even with using a grade six artifact to counterattack, all of his sword strikes were quickly destroyed. He could only suffer when in retaliation, they seized the opportunity to strike his undefended back.

If only he knew the 'Three Heads Six Arms' technique that was popular in cultivation novels, he might have stood a chance to defend against multiple attacks from every angle. With thirty people flawlessly working together, some even at a hight cultivation rank than Murong Yu, he never stood a chance. And thanks to his vicious personality, the strikes were heavier than they would have been initially.

"Heavenly Flaming Claw!"

"Golden Winged Slash!"

"Scarlet-Blood Sword!"

"Abyss Bear Roar!"

The attacks kept coming, and thanks to their demon spirits, they were devastating!

'I need to merge with my demon spirit' thought Murong Yu desperately, he had cruelly been reminded that he was not invincible.

The problem was that you needed time to merge with your demon spirit. So just like the two minions at the start of the fight, when he tried to integrate with his Saint Blood Draconic Falcon, he was put down before he could finish.

"Got to give it to the bastard, he was strong!" Commented one of the masked attackers as be put the boot into the unconscious form of Murong Yu.

"I don't care how strong he is, this b*tch nearly killed me!" Yelled a bleeding masked follower as he spat on Murong Yu, his stomach was still bleeding from Murong Yu's first sword strike.

"Ok, everyone settle down!" Shouted Hua Ling, "You two, concentrate on healing your wounds, the rest of you back off. Not you four, strip him and stake him out spread eagle. We still have to teach this arse-licker humility!" He said, pointing to the four closest people dressed like bandits.

Murong Yu was quickly relieved of his sword, bag of soul scales, clothes and interspatial ring. Each of his limbs was then tied to four wooden poles that had been hammered into the ground. Even with his superhuman strength, there was no way he could escape from his fetters. There was no leverage to pull out the stakes, and the materials used to restrain him were not common materials that he could break.

Murong Yu was now at the mercy of thirty pissed off students.


	65. Chapter 65

Murong Yu awoke to an uncomfortable feeling in his groin. The Ghastly Ruins was an apocalyptic setting, there was a distinct lack of fresh green grass. So when a man is staked face down on the ground, all there is to comfort is genitals was course rocky terrain.

The constant ill wind and crumbling ruined walls guaranteeing that not even sand was left to lessen the painful experience. He tried to move his arms in an attempt to push himself up and inspect the weird situation he found himself in, only to realise that he was bound and unable to move even his legs.

The freak out that ensued only exasperated the problem of his unprotected junk, and the jagged rocks that they were exposed to.

"What the hell is happening?" Murong Yu cried out in pain and confusion.

"Oh, it looks like the entitled prick is awake!"

"What's the matter, young master? Your accommodations not up to your usual standard?" Came a jeer from one of the masked men now crowding around their naked victim.

"Release me! Do you even know the consequences of your actions? You will pay dearly for this!" Raged Murong Yu.

"I'm glad you brought up consequences you little shit stain." Said one of the men as he viciously yanked Murong Yu's head back by the hair, giving him a view of his masked captors.

"There are indeed consequences to every action, and today, you are going to face yours! We had originally just planned to teach you a small lesson for your recent behaviour, nobody likes a bully after all. You seem to forget that there are people above you and attacking their people is just not acceptable. BUT THEN YOU TRIED TO KILL US!" The man holding Murong Yu's head had started the conversation almost pleasantly but finished by shouting in his ear.

"Since neither the Elders of the Institute nor your parents have seen fit to teach you manners, it has fallen to us to educate you on how to behave towards your fellow Sect members."

Yet before the man could finish his speech, Murong Yu had interrupted him by shouting out in defiance. "How dare trash like you tell me how to act! None of you could even fight me five on one, let alone one on one! What gives you cowardly f*cks any right to teach me anything? Nothing but jealous trash!" He said as he tried to spit at his captors. The masked man giving the speech sighed as he shoved Murong Yu's head into the ground before he could succeed and stood up.

"It seems that you are unwilling to even listen to our young master's message. Very well, we will move on to the physical aspect of your lesson in humility. Begin!" He said as he took a whip out of his interspatial ring and threw it to one of the lackeys.

Surprisingly, when Hua Ling received his orders from Shen Yue, neither he nor his men had a whip. It was a rather exotic weapon that was rarely used except by a few women in the Sect. He had to buy it just for this occasion when they returned to the Skysoul Institue. They aimed to inflict not only pain but also humiliation as everyone got a turn to take their frustrations out on Murong Yu's uncovered back.

It was the perfect way to achieve both goals, letting him remember his lesson and leave him uncrippled. With the medicine available in the Draconic Ruins, any damage would be quickly restored without leaving any scars. Unfortunately for Murong Yu, it would not heal the emotional ones.

The men were not at all gentle as they whipped him like a rented mule, most not having any experience with a whip. With thirty men practising on a staked out victim, their aim was all over the place, even turning into a bit of a game. After everyone had their turn, Hua Ling retrieved the whip and stored it away. He looked at his men's handiwork and was amazed to see that there was no place left untouched. There was very little white skin visible, the once unmarred white skin now a grotesque, bloody mess. Their wild, untrained swings even managing to take the skin off Murong Yu's feet!

Although the wounds were only skin deep, the amount that Muron Yu had just received would surely have killed someone at the Gold rank, and an average human would have been an unrecognisable lump of flesh and broken bones. Without his current cultivation, this punishment was a death sentence. But to a Heavenly Fate Realm expert with six Fate Souls, it was just incredibly painful and somewhat debilitating.

He would be quite tender as he made the trip back to his courtyard. During the first twenty strokes of the whip, Murong Yu had been very vocal in his plans for revenge, but by the sixtieth, he was just begging for it to stop. Soon after, he was just blubbering incoherently, the pain wreaking havoc on his ability to think clearly.

With their mission accomplished, they broke into teams and went hunting Ghouls, laughing and joking like they had not just whipped every inch of skin off another human's back. Not one of them felt the slightest amount of guilt at what they had done, and that was without any of Shen Yue's brainwashing! This was a brutal universe, others pain and suffering was often a source of amusement to others.

Killing multiple people in one's life was considered the norm. As Shen Yue watched through the eyes of Hua Ling, he wondered how the hypocritical b*tch from Earth would have acted in this situation. Would she have just turned the other cheek and bore Murong Yu's humiliation? Or had Nie Li handle it and keep her hands clean of any wrongdoing.

Shen Yue was a little sickened by the whole event, but this was the only way to teach this spoilt bastard a lesson, he would not listen if they asked him to politely return their soul scales and apologise for the humiliation he dished out. There was no one standing up for equality, or justice, not even the so-called 'righteous' Sects. Hell, even the Demon Beasts that everyone felt was acceptable to kill without reason were sentient creatures on par with humans.

They had not really even broken the school rules other than stealing, a crime with a light punishment at best! No, there was not going to be a group of SJW's jumping out and marching in protest about it (unless it benefited them personally) and Murong Yu was going have to do something himself if he wanted revenge. The circle of hate continues.

But Shen Yue was surprised that no Elders jumped out to stop it, were they even watching? It seemed ridiculous that they did not intervene in this savage act of street justice. But he was not complaining, they would only complicate matters if they got involved.

That was why Shen Yue had thrown most of his morality from Earth away and adopted the local philosophy, 'Might = Right!' After all, morality is subjective. To a mouse, the cat is a racist, psychopathic monster, hell-bent on killing any mouse in sight. Cows would see humans as even worse.

A true sociopath capable of pretending to love and raise it only to betray the cow and turn its corpse into delicious burgers. If only every living thing were vegan, capable of surviving off nothing but grass, then the world would be a utopia where everything lived in peace and harmony. Until it got overcrowded and the grass ran out.

So as the mortified Murong Yu stumbled out of the Ghastly Ruins covering his manhood, under the many stares of other students, he vowed his revenge on the villans that had unjustly attacked him. 'Long Tianming will pay for this!' he thought spitefully. But he must not act recklessly, he would bide his time and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. For a nobleman to take revenge, ten years is not too long! Long Tianming had a large army and was also personly much stronger than him, he would be seeking death if he publically stood against him.

To anyone capable of reading Murong Yu's mind, they would wonder why he would be swearing an oath of vengeance against the shoo-in for the next Sect leader position. It was suicidal to even think of such a thing, let alone for considering it for no reason.

But Murong Yu had an excellent motive, as he looked at the students peering at him with schadenfreude, it reinforced his hatred and vow to kill Long Tianming at any cost! The bandits that had robbed and humiliated him thought that they were so clever by hiding their faces, but he still overheard them as he was being savagely whipped!

"What a piece of trash, to think he actually had the balls to attack young master Tianming's men!"

"I know, right! Truly a new-born calf that is not afraid of the tiger."

"Trash should know their place! Young master Tianming is too merciful, we should just cripple this fool!"

Even though they were whispering to each other, with his cultivation, he was able to hear it clearly. 'So what if he robbed a few soul scales, this humiliation was uncalled for!' He thought to himself, forgetting that he was guilty of the same crime. He walked up to a student that was blatantly laughing at him, the little peon had not even reached the Heavenly Fate Realm!

"Give me your robe." Spoke Murong Yu harshly.

"This is the Skysoul Institue, you can't rob me here. It's against the rules!" Shouted the student, trying to draw everyone's attention.

But everyone with eyes or ears were already paying attention, enjoying the entertainment. They looked at the nobody student with pity in their eyes, was he retarded? He should have just taken out another robe from his ring, Murong Yu was a well know bully after all, why give him a reason to target you?

Without even replying, Murong Yu controlled the little soul force he had recovered and used his aura to crush the poor bastard that had been singled out to the ground. The force had been so sudden that the sudden massive pressure had snapped the kid's legs. The sound of bone snapping making a few of the onlookers wince in sympathy.

While the unlucky victim was clutching his legs and screaming, Murong Yu merely looked at him with dead eyes and a cruel smile. He didn't even speak as he used his soul force to shuck the screaming student from his robes and wrap it around himself, slightly wincing in pain as it touched his mangled back.

As Murong Yu walked away to the soundtrack of whispers and screams, there was only one question on everybody's mind.

"Who was brave enough to humiliate a young genius?"


	66. Chapter 66

Shen Yue watched from the crowd as Murong Yu stumbled off towards the East District, the poor bastard that had his legs broken was still screaming in pain. A compound fracture will do that, with the bone sticking out of the skin, there was no position that would lessen the pain.

While everyone was discussing who was brave enough to go against a genius from the East District, Shen Yue was wondering if he had successfully framed Long Tianming. Although he was not afraid of any retribution from Murong Yu or the Sect, it would be funny to give Long Tianming a gift of an unknown nemesis.

Not that Murong Yu was capable of causing much harm to the next Sect leader. His cultivation is far beyond all others in his age group, he was the successor of the Dragonseal Family and had a large army at his command. Not to mention the Family Elders that supported him. Murong Yu could at most be an annoyance, but it will be funny to see if his obvious misdirect was successful.

I mean, Heavenly Fate Realm experts were well aware of their hearing range, if someone went to the trouble to hide their face yet reveal their master within earshot, the information was suspicious at best. Then again, from reading the TDG novel, the different bad guy's plans were never very complicated, they were always straight forward and obvious.

The only exception was Long Tianming with his deeply hidden relationship with the Demon Beast and 'evil' Sects. But Shen Yue suspected that it was a Dragonseal Family's Elder that was pulling the strings. Every action Long Tianming took against Nie Li, or Situ Beiyan were on par with Bond villain schemes. Suffice to say that he was not dealing with any critical thinkers capable of thinking outside the box.

If by some miracle Murong Yu saw through the setup, the only facts he could assume would be that his enemy was connected to the groups he had robbed and that they hated Long Tianming. Nothing to implicate Shen Yue or his minions. Shen Yue didn't even bother to change his operation in the Ghastly Ruins. Over the next two weeks, he would send all newly promoted slaves/followers into the Ruins to farm ghouls, it was too lucrative not too!

When Hua Ling's men whipped the sh*t out of Murong Yu, the recovered soul scales were distributed evenly to all the groups as they left the testing ground. Luckily, the exit was clearly marked, and even though the ruins spanned hundreds of kilometres, everyone managed to find their way out without problems.

If Shen Yue really wanted to be an arsehole, he could have set up a bandit gang to rob everyone that was trying to leave. That way, after two days of farming, the hardworking student's soul scales would belong to someone just sitting at the only exit.

But this was a sure-fire way to make enemies and invite retaliation. There was always a chance that one of the victims was a young master in disguise, related to an influential character or was a cheating bastard like Nie Li. Or himself for that matter, with his Libary of Heaven's Path and the Immortal Jade pendant, he was perhaps even worse of a cheat existence. All he needed was time and resources, and he would be capable of crushing anyone that dared to oppose him, Nie Li included.

That was why when his minions came out of the Ghastly Ruins with an average of forty thousand soul scales (not including Muron Yu's), he was beside himself with joy. The exchange rate was one thousand soul scales for thirty spiritual stones, meaning that in two days, they had made twelve hundred spiritual stones! An unimaginable amount for newly recruited students. Shen Yue graciously let them keep a hundred for themselves and had Hua Ling hold onto the rest when he exited the Ruins two days later.

The cycle continued with newly 'persuaded' Earth Realm students given new cultivation techniques and spiritual stones, advancing to the Heavenly Fate Realm, and then hunting Ghouls to add to the growing riches in Hua Ling's interspatial ring. Since the soul scales were distributed evenly among the group (to the nearest thousand), there was not much commotion on the leaderboard rankings. Murong Yu had the first place with ninety thousand, so forty of fifty thousand was considered good, but nothing special.

"Finally, it seems that someone has grasped the meaning behind the Ghastly Ruins testing grounds." Remarked a Skysoul Elder as he watched hundreds of new students gather in small groups and work together to defeat thousands of ghouls. "Why else would we randomly teleport students into a place where the enemy gathered in the thousands? It is to promote teamwork within the Sect!" he continued to explain to one of the officials in charge of distributing the rewards.

The official nodded his head on reflex, 'how did it make sense to evenly split the soul scales if the people were weaker than you and hardly helped?' he thought to himself, totally disregarding the Elder's ramblings.

Shen Yue himself had even entered, and his group had managed to collect eighty thousand soul scales each! Of course, he quickly gave the majority to other groups of minions to hide his skill, eventually exiting the Ruins with only thirty thousand soul scales. Things were going well, there was no retribution or obstacles for his men in the Ghastly Ruins, and the Gu Clan had yet to raid his minions that held all the stolen goods.

They had moved the loot between a few different slaves to make it harder to trace unless they had an overpowered divination spell. All in all, things were looking on track for his plans. At this rate, there would be no competition in bidding for the cheat painting that could rival his wealth. All he had to do now was concentrate on building up his personal strength.

He had not been neglecting his cultivation, but his Soul Realm was truely a bottomless pit that absorbed everything without noticeable change. He had not yet condensed his second Fate Soul but had absorbed the Heavenly Energy from over five thousand spiritual stones! If Shen Yue relied on the usual way for students to gain resources, it would take him years to accumulate this many.

It would also be impossible to make it out of the Heavenly Fate Realm in his lifetime! Disregarding the mental image of likening his Soul Realm to Homer Simpson at an all you can eat buffet, he thought of how powerful cultivation techniques directly correlated with resources need to advance.

Luckily, this was not a problem for Shen Yue as he had his Ghastly Ruins setup and in the future would farm Deity's Lakes in the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting. But the needed resources will multiply once he uses his Fate Souls to create clones! They would need their own cultivation resources to advance through the different Realms of strength, a never-ending battle between wealth and cultivating!

While taking a break from stressing over his future problems, he took a look at Gu Bei's mind for an update on their Clan's situation. Over the last two weeks, he had planned to use Gu Bei's followers to gather dragon bloodline demon spirits with ordinary growth rates.

Any unique demon beast spirits with extraordinary attributes or functions were also on the list to obtain. After all, the Shadow Devil demon spirit was only a normal demon beast spirit, but its utility was off the charts! If they could get spirits like that for a spiritual stone or two, it would be simple to turn it into a god growth rate with the Nightmare Demon Pot.

It would be easy enough to slip him some of their newly acquired wealth from the Ghastly Ruins, but then he remembered Gu Heng's faction. They were still out for blood for the theft and humiliation they received. If Gu Bei started to throw some wealth around, it would surely draw their attention.

Instead, he had to have Hua Ling split up the purchases between all the minions that returned from the Ghastly Ruins to help explain their wealth. It was a hassle being discreet, but it would save them from a lot of bullsh*t if the movers and shakers of the younger generation couldn't pinpoint a single target to attack.

If Hua Ling suddenly stepped out as a moneybags on a spending spree, he would face suppression from many 'young masters'. It was a good thing that he decided to check Gu Bei's mind, as he and everyone else in the Clan had been summoned for a Clan meeting. The first one ever in Gu Bei's lifetime according to his memories.

Thousands of Clan members from the top ranks to the bottom assembled in the Clan's martial field, the only place able to accommodate everyone. It was a mandatory summons, if anyone that was not present that didn't have special permission from the Patriarch, then they would be labelled as rogues and hunted down. It seems the poison's symptoms had finally been noticed.

***Author Note***

This story is on hold while I wait for Mad Snail to pump out another arc. Will be concentrating on my Harry Potter Fanfic 'Dark Lord Dumbledore' if you are interested in reading that while we wait.

I mainly post on Webnovel as it has a better platform for interacting with readers, feel free to find me over there.

Chado Sama.


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